The presses will stop spinning, for at least one night. Daily life West France was affected, Thursday June 20, by a strike called by the inter-union which should prevent the printing and therefore the publication of the paper newspaper dated Friday due to “the failure of obligatory annual negotiations” (NAO), Agence France-Presse learned from union sources.
“On Tuesday, we had an NAO meeting which ended short. Management cited poor results to reject our requests for raises”explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Christelle Guibert, representative of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) at West France. Concerning the rotativists, who ensure the printing of the newspaper at night, “we had a general meeting last night, and we voted for a strike next night. And if we don’t get a return [de la direction]we also voted to strike the following night”Olivier Heurtault, secretary general of the Force Ouvrière (FO) section of the rotativists, told AFP.
A strike notice is also envisaged for June 30, the day of the first round of the legislative elections. “The discussions continue, the dialogue is not broken”, for her part explained Caroline Tortellier, responsible for the group’s external communications. The paper versions of the daily are not expected to come off the presses on Friday, but “the newspaper will be released in digital version”she added.
The daily newspaper is printed on two sites, in Chantepie, on the outskirts of Rennes, and at La Chevrolière, on the edge of Nantes. The daily newspapers also come out of this printing house. Ocean Press, Le Courrier de l’Ouest And Free Mainewhich belong to the Ouest-France group, and should therefore not come out in paper edition on Friday either, although they are not affected by the strike movement.
The unions dispute management’s figures. They argue in particular that the group has applied to the Audiovisual Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom) with a view to developing a national television channel on DTT. An investment, costed at “70 million euros”according to the unions.
“Last year, we didn’t have any real NAOs”, considers Christelle Guibert. Only the lowest salaries, i.e. 60% of employees, obtained an increase in salary. “We find this lack of increase for several years unacceptable, while the ten highest salaries in West France have increased by 12% over the last three years”added Olivier Heurtault.
On June 20, the draw of West Francethe leading French paid daily, sold 492,500 copies, to which are added 18,400 for Press-Ocean29,200 for Free Maine and 61,000 for The Western Mail.