Olivier Heurtault searches his memories, but the trade unionist from Force Ouvrière (FO) finds no trace of such a movement of discontent within the newspaper West France. The rotativist points with his chin to the union flags flying on Thursday, June 20, in front of the daily’s headquarters in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine). All the organizations representing employees of the most widely distributed French title (628,393 daily copies in 2023) are present. At the microphone of the sound system placed on the sidewalk, journalists, printing workers, photo library employees, secretary… take turns to explain this mobilization leading to the non-appearance on newsstands of the Friday June 21 edition. “We are witnessing a general fed up fueled by deep concerns about the future of the newspaper,” comments Olivier Heurtault.
The strike was resolved in twenty-four hours following a heated meeting on compulsory annual negotiations (NAO). For months, unions have been calling for a general increase in wages. According to them, 40% of employees have not benefited from a revaluation since 2012. “Management closed the door abruptly before considering cutting leave and RTT. This response stunned us”describes Christophe Bredin, journalist and CFDT delegate.
Criticized for having increased the company’s ten highest-paid executives, management nuanced this by highlighting the increase in the overall payroll of 10% between 2020 and 2023 through hiring, individual or automatic increases. In an internal press release published on June 19, those responsible justified their refusal by the economic fragility of the title: “Our expenses are higher than our income and our operating result is in deficit to the tune of ten million. The projection at the end of 2024 is at the same level. »
” Double speech “
Christelle Guibert, journalist and SNJ delegate, criticizes “ double talk”: “Today, the company is in the red. A few days ago, management certified that it had the strength to initiate major projects. ” West France was able to mobilize resources to apply for a DTT frequency. The budget necessary for the creation of a television channel would be 70 million euros according to the unions. “This file will not directly impact the accounts of West France “, is content to respond to the newspaper’s management board’s requests from World. This windfall therefore comes from the Sipa holding company, which holds West France as well as a multitude of local periodicals, magazines, radios and websites… Controlled by the Association for the Safeguarding of the Principles of Humanist Democracy (ASPDH) ensuring the independence of the newspaper by protecting it from any takeover, the Sipa company is criticized for its “opacity” by newspaper employees, unable to gauge the health of the subsidiaries.
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