worried about their jobs and their multilingual chain model, around 150 people gathered Thursday morning in front of the premises of the panician chain in Lyon.
by Brice Laemle
Fears are piling up among Euronews employees. Concerns around a possible relocation of jobs, potential job cuts, or even an end of the multilingual chain model. About 150 people – out of the 500 in the company – mobilized, Thursday, February 2, to share their emotion in front of the Fluo Vert premises located in the Confluence district in Lyon. “No to dismantling”, “we just want the means to do our job: inform”, “united in diversity”, could be read on the signs of demonstrators called to the strike by the inter-union consisting of the SNJ, of the CGT, and CFE-CGC.
Beyond the uncertainties, a real discontent has emerged among the employees since the buyout of Euronews by the Portuguese investment fund Alpac Capital, in July 2022. “We are faced with budget cuts at all levels, The working conditions have deteriorated with chronic sub -ffectives and the non-replacement of employees “, denounces Lena Roche, elected by CFE-CGC staff and CSE secretary. “The investment fund does not want to develop the company contrary to what it proclaimed at the start,” says a journalist from the editorial staff wishing to remain anonymous. “He wants to cut out in expenses, resell us by gaining added value and the human is the last thing they care about,” he judges.
13 million euros in deficit
Launched in 1993 by around twenty European channels, with the aim of responding to the American CNN, Euronews has already been shaken by two social plans since 2017. The chain which continuously broadcasts information in 15 languages with a drafting Of 400 journalists is now bloodless. She has accumulated “160 million [euros] of losses in ten years”, according to Guillaume Dubois, the managing director appointed in July. The former director general of BFM-TV and CEO of the L’Express group explains that the chain deficit would approach 13 million euros in its operating profit of 2022, as the previous year. To save money, the Euronews “cube” and its 10,000 square meters of surface have been sold, the shareholder now looking for new premises in the Metropolis of Lyon.
The announcement of the strategic plan, repeatedly postponed, ended up annoying internally. “I understand the impatience of the employees, but it will be done the week of February 27. We want to present an ambitious, complete and argued plan,” says Guillaume Dubois. In the meantime, three union representatives have met Pedro Vargas David, the chairman of the board of directors of Alpac. Passing through Lyon on January 19, he obviously failed to reassure. He would have affirmed his will that offices will be opened in European capitals. “We do not know if our editors will be broken out in the various capitals or if it will be a complement,” explains Marie Jamet, elected SNJ staff. “There are lots of questions and no answers for the moment, we are so in the vagueness that it is” Radio Moquette “which takes fire”, deplores Lena Roche de la CFE-CGC.