SDA editorial staff calls for negotiations on cutbacks with warning strike
The editorial staff of the Swiss News Agency (SDA) went on a three-hour warning strike on Tuesday afternoon because management refused to negotiate regarding the announced job cuts. And the editorial staff is threatening further industrial action.
Shortly before 2 p.m., the German- and French-language SDA service sent a note to all customer editorial offices that from now until 5 p.m. only an emergency service would be in operation. The Italian-speaking editorial office did not send any messages at all until 5 p.m.
The members of the editorial staff came together for a meeting, where they passed a resolution at the end. The resolution calls on the management and the board of directors "for the third time" to negotiate the announced reduction of 36 of the approximately 150 full-time editorial positions, as the media union Syndicom and the journalists' association impressum reported in a communiqué.
The extent and timing of the layoffs would have to be part of the negotiations. The layoffs, which will affect more than 80 people, are neither urgent nor necessary. Research had shown that the SDA company had profit reserves of 19 million francs, Syndicom and impressum further announced.
The management was only willing to negotiate on some points of the social plan. Otherwise, there was no convincing strategy from the management around CEO Markus Schwab as to how it intended to maintain the quality and scope of SDA services with the announced cutbacks. In this way, it was putting Switzerland's basic media service at risk.
"The door is open"
The news agency SDA had announced on January 8 that it would have to undertake a comprehensive reorganization. Although it was able to renew contracts with its most important customers, it expects sales to slump by 9.6 percent to 29.5 million Swiss francs due to heavy price pressure, as SDA management announced two weeks ago.
At the operating result (Ebit) level, a loss of 1.9 million Swiss francs is expected. Restructuring is unavoidable, it said. Functional discussions with all employees about their future employment relationship had begun on Tuesday - at the time of the warning strike.
CEO Schwab was not surprised by the work stoppage. He understands that SDA employees are not satisfied with the changes. Their action was legitimate, Schwab said when asked.
As for the next steps, Schwab said the new proposals from the Editorial Commission would be examined. He said he could imagine that more agreements could be reached on the social plan. "The door is open, as it has always been open," Schwab said. However, nothing is likely to change in the scope of the social plan of two million francs. (SDA)
The SDA/ATS news agency stopped work for three hours on Tuesday afternoon to demonstrate against the planned job cuts. #sda #ats @inside_sda pic.twitter.com/P3NE1IBPNR
- Keystone Video (@keystone_video) January 23, 2018
