Proposals to Tamedia: Le Matin employees want to prevent the closure of their newspaper
The employees of Le Matin are fighting back against the disappearance of their newspaper. They have drawn up proposals to save the paper and are calling for the consultation period to be extended.
The Syndicom trade union and the Impressum journalists' association announced on Monday that three alternative projects had been submitted to the management of the Zurich media group Tamedia, the owner of the traditional newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland, last Thursday. A first proposal envisages retaining the print version of Le Matin without job cuts. However, the market, distribution and pricing strategy are to be changed. New sources of income are also to be tapped.
Sale and new investors
The takeover of the title by the editors of Le Matin with new investors is another alternative that could prevent mass redundancies. Work in this direction is proceeding intensively, according to the communiqué. A third possibility to save jobs is seen by the employees of Le Matin in a strong expansion of the online portal. However, Tamedia would have to provide significantly more financial resources for this. These three projects represent serious alternatives to prevent the disappearance of the title and/or significantly reduce job losses, the press release continues. The editorial team, Syndicom and Impressum expect Tamedia to thoroughly examine these options. To make this possible, they are demanding an extension of the consultation period until July 2.
41 employees affected
Tamedia plans to discontinue the printed edition of Le Matin at the end of July. 41 employees are at risk of losing their jobs. The medium will only be available online and will be further developed with an editorial team of 15. However, the Sunday newspaper is not affected by the redundancies Le Matin Dimanche. Tamedia justified the decision at the beginning of June with "the continuing losses of the print edition" of Le Matin. In 2017, the paper's deficit was around CHF 6.3 million, and CHF 34 million over the last ten years. The Tamedia Group reported a profit of CHF 170 million for the past year. (SDA)
