The social plan targeting the newspaper South West is not a surprise for its employees, but its scale caused a shock within the company and led to a day of strike on Wednesday March 6. The general director of Sapeso (the publishing company of Sud Ouest including its advertising agency), Nicolas Sterckx, announced on Tuesday March 5 his desire to eliminate 118 positions from the regional daily out of a total of 720 employees. The manager presented his employment protection plan (PSE) to the union organizations during an extraordinary Social and Economic Committee (CSE).
Like all daily press groups, South West – which claims 100,000 paper subscriptions, 50,000 newsstand sales and 40,000 digital subscribers – suffered from the “ historic rise in raw material and energy costs » in 2022 and 2023, recalls the management of the press group, owned by the Lemoîne family. In a press release Tuesday evening, she reported “the acceleration of the decline in revenues linked to the sale of paper newspapers”.
In 2023, its paid French circulation contracted by 6.64% according to the Alliance for Figures in the Press and Media (ACPM). With this “restructuring”the management of the title wants to restore the accounts, which showed a deficit of 3.7 million euros for the year 2023, and “ enable Sapeso to regain lasting profitability”. For that, “all services must “contribute” », pleads Mr. Sterckx. This voluntary departure plan therefore concerns the company as a whole. The editorial staff could thus lose 25 positions (out of around 250 journalists), the rotativists would give up on 24 positions, the Pau printing house would see 18 positions eliminated when the prepress (preparation of printing) would lose 22. The management and the marketing are also affected but on a smaller scale.
Second strike in less than a year
A judged plan “absolutely unacceptable” by David Patsouris, elected to the CSE and member of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ), because he “does not provide any strategic vision to overcome this difficult milestone and become a profitable company again”. For the journalist, management is taking the risk that the economic situation will quickly deteriorate again after a few years of improvement.
If the number of editions will remain unchanged (ten), the closure of three agencies is planned by management. The local areas of Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Orthez in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Sarlat (Dordogne) are concerned. “Sales of digital and print subscriptions represent more than 60% of our turnover. The editorial is therefore what pulls up all the other activities, advertising, events… Weakening the editorial team means weakening the company as a whole”insists David Patsouris.
You have 39.62% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.