management continues to point the finger at the front page of Thursday’s newspaper, which it describes as “a collective error”

For the third consecutive day, the newspaper Provence was not published on Monday March 25, the editorial staff said in an email on Sunday. Despite the reinstatement of the editorial director, the unions believe that “nothing is settled”. Sunday evening, the management of the daily announced that it had found a “agreement” with Aurélien Viers, allowing his reintegration. The editorial director was fired on Friday due to the newspaper’s front page on Thursday after Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Marseille, judged “ambiguous” by management.

This layoff was supposed to last a week, but it was ultimately shortened. Management judged during this exchange that the editorial director was acting in good faith. The management of Provence assures franceinfo that there has been no change in the situation, but only a desire to discuss with Aurélien Viers to find out if it was still possible to work with him. She maintains that by laying off the editorial head, there was not necessarily a desire to dismiss him, but to “take the time to analyze the dysfunction”.

The management continues to point the finger at the front page of Thursday’s newspaper, which it describes as“collective error”. Two days after the visit of the Head of State to support a police operation against drug trafficking, the daily published on its front page a photo of a district of the Marseille city with the quote: “He left and we are still here”.

“Only the general assembly is sovereign”

The trade union organizations, for their part, welcome “a first step” after the announcement of the reinstatement of the editorial director, but they “would like to point out that they were kept away from the discussions”. For the editorial unions of Provence (SNJ, CFE CGC and CFDT), if these discussions “resulted in satisfying one of the strikers’ demands”they also deliver “a conclusion which remains problematic”.

The announcement of the reinstatement of Aurélien Viers therefore does not call into question the indefinite strike started on Friday, say the unions. They recall that “only the general assembly is sovereign” and regret that “many questions remain unanswered”. The rally planned for Monday morning at 10 a.m. in front of the newspaper’s headquarters “to decide what to do with the movement” is therefore maintained. The Intersyndicale also asks to meet “as soon as possible Rodolphe Saadé [actionnaire principal] and the management of Provence“.