First step towards a new collective labor agreement has been taken
The Swiss publishers want to talk to the social partners about a new collective labor agreement. At the members' meeting in Interlaken on Thursday, a corresponding annual target was adopted.
Accordingly, a working group will submit a draft CLA to the Executive Board, which will then be negotiated with the employee representatives. For more than ten years, journalists in the publishing houses of German-speaking Switzerland have been without a collective labor agreement. This contractless state could soon come to an end. The Association of Swiss Media has taken a first step towards Impressum and Syndicom and has set up a working group to draw up corresponding principles. As the head of the Legal Department, Pietro Supino, explained at the meeting, the publishers want to prove with this step that they are good employers. A first step has been taken, "but the work is just beginning," he said.
New "Media Policy" Department
The General Meeting also decided to create a new "Media Policy" department in the Presidium. This will be headed by Markus Somm (publisher and editor-in-chief of the Basler Zeitung). Among other things, the Media Policy Department will also deal with new developments such as the advertising alliance announced between Swisscom, SRG and Ringier. The publishers consider the joint venture between the three partners to be very problematic because it would distort the market. The construct is tricky from a competition law point of view. The data that Swisscom wants to make available only to SRG and Ringier would have to be made available to everyone on a non-discriminatory basis. The publishers also believe that SRG should not be allowed to open up new business areas in the advertising market. They therefore consider cooperation with Swisscom to be impossible. This is neither covered by the Radio and Television Act nor by the SRG's concession. (SDA)
