Newspaper carriers threatened with dismissal submit claims
The Syndicom trade union has submitted demands on behalf of the people who distribute Zentralschweiz am Sonntag regarding the impending job cuts. According to the union, Presto Presse-Vertriebs AG must engage in serious dialog with those affected so that hardship cases can be avoided.
Just under four weeks ago, the publishing house CH Media announced that it would discontinue the Sunday paper Zentralschweiz am Sonntag at the end of June. (Werbewoche.ch reported). This decision has far-reaching, in part existential consequences for newspaper publishers, the Syndicom union announced on Saturday.
According to the union, around 600 people distribute newspapers on Sunday, 400 of whom are at risk of redundancy due to the discontinuation of the Central Switzerland Sunday newspaper. Around 200 people would still be needed to distribute other newspapers, said David Roth, central secretary of Syndicom, when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency.
As part of the consultation process, ideas were developed on the part of the newspaper publishers as to how people could be kept on and how the mass redundancies could be cushioned. These demands were submitted to Presto Presse-Vertriebs AG in Emmenbrücke on Saturday morning. Presto is a subsidiary of Swiss Post.
According to Roth, the demands include ensuring that newspaper employees who are hit particularly hard by a layoff continue to be employed. At most, they should receive compensation or continued pay. Also, the Sunday tours that remain particularly attractive because of the surcharges could be distributed among the carriers on an alternating basis.
The people who distribute newspapers to households work in the low-wage sector in sometimes precarious jobs, Syndicom reported. Some of them also have another job, but are dependent on the second job. (SDA)
