Le Monde's Presses to Fall Silent Again
France's newspaper of record will not be printed for a second time this week after staff voted to strike over job cuts. By Gwladys Fouche
Le Monde, France's newspaper of record, will not be on newsstands tomorrow for a second time this week after staff today voted to strike over proposals for job cuts.
The paper was also not published on Monday, with Le Monde staff up in arms at management plans to cut 129 jobs at the newspaper.
Two-thirds of these job losses would be in the newsroom, as part of a plan that Le Monde's management said would safeguard the paper's future. The newsroom cuts represent one in four journalists at the paper - about 87 staff.
"The aim of this new strike is to prevent the publication of the edition dated Friday," staff representative Christiane Chombeau told MediaGuardian.co.uk.
Le Monde is an evening daily available from 1pm in Paris, while the rest of France gets it either in the evening or the following day. The edition meant to be printed tomorrow afternoon would have been dated Friday, April 18.
"Some journalists, such as those working on early-deadline pages, are already on strike. Others, such as the non-editorial employees, will strike all day tomorrow," explained Chombeau.
"[The situation] is unacceptable. Management hasn't budged since the last strike. They still have the same discourse as before."
A new strike motion, passed this afternoon, was adopted with 81% of the 425 participants voting in favor of industrial action.
Staff want all redundancies to be voluntary and for management to halt the proposed sale of assets including a publishing house, a bookshop chain, the cult cinema magazine Les Cahiers du Cinema, and a monthly magazine on dancing.
This week is the second time in Le Monde's 64-year history that staff have stopped the presses over an internal dispute and only the third time since its creation that the newspaper has not come out.
In 1976, employees stopped publication of Le Monde in solidarity with their then colleagues at the France Soir newspaper, which had been sold to a new proprietor.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
The paper was also not published on Monday, with Le Monde staff up in arms at management plans to cut 129 jobs at the newspaper.
Two-thirds of these job losses would be in the newsroom, as part of a plan that Le Monde's management said would safeguard the paper's future. The newsroom cuts represent one in four journalists at the paper - about 87 staff.
"The aim of this new strike is to prevent the publication of the edition dated Friday," staff representative Christiane Chombeau told MediaGuardian.co.uk.
Le Monde is an evening daily available from 1pm in Paris, while the rest of France gets it either in the evening or the following day. The edition meant to be printed tomorrow afternoon would have been dated Friday, April 18.
"Some journalists, such as those working on early-deadline pages, are already on strike. Others, such as the non-editorial employees, will strike all day tomorrow," explained Chombeau.
"[The situation] is unacceptable. Management hasn't budged since the last strike. They still have the same discourse as before."
A new strike motion, passed this afternoon, was adopted with 81% of the 425 participants voting in favor of industrial action.
Staff want all redundancies to be voluntary and for management to halt the proposed sale of assets including a publishing house, a bookshop chain, the cult cinema magazine Les Cahiers du Cinema, and a monthly magazine on dancing.
This week is the second time in Le Monde's 64-year history that staff have stopped the presses over an internal dispute and only the third time since its creation that the newspaper has not come out.
In 1976, employees stopped publication of Le Monde in solidarity with their then colleagues at the France Soir newspaper, which had been sold to a new proprietor.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
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