The demand is friendly, but firm, even without appeal. While two strategic positions are opening up at the top of the bodies of the economic grouping of European interest (EEIG) of Arte, the head office of the Franco-German channel based in Strasbourg, it is out of the question that these two functions do not return to two women. In any case, this is how an anonymous group of channel employees see things, as do a significant number of employees who have rallied to their parity. Their reasoning is elementary: since the management committee which will soon welcome these new members, one in the management department, the other in the programs department, is made up of four people, including two men already in post, two directors. must sit alongside them. “We want the right half of the cake”, summarizes a petitioner.
The topic started to rise in February, when seven colleagues (some of whom had responsibilities, and who did not claim any promotion for themselves) summed up the problem in an open letter widely distributed internally. Signed by 442 employees, including 110 men (the EEIG has 470 full-time equivalents, Arte France, 250), the letter was approved by the elected members of the social and economic committee, who echoed it during meetings of the CSE and in general assembly, before being directly transmitted to the leaders of the chain. 62.5% of the total workforce.
A tightrope walker on his wire
“Bruno Patino replied on several occasions that he found our approach legitimate”, recognize three of the initiators of the process. Good news, since the president of Arte France, also president of the EEIG since January and, as such, member of the management committee, must make one of the two appointments, in the direction of the programs. The German Peter Weber, vice-president of the EEIG, is responsible for proposing a name for the management department. “We know that Peter Weber is looking for a woman”, assures one of the authors of the letter, who sees it as a first achievement. There remains the other post, for which Bruno Patino is scrutinized like a tightrope walker on his wire. “There is a risk of appointing a man, and of estimating achieving parity by appointing women to deputy positions”, understands a claimant. The identity of the people approached will be known at the end of May, i.e. a few days before the general meeting of June 9, which is supposed to approve the appointments, to take up their duties on January 1, 2022.
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