Nearly two years after his arrival, the general director of the daily The sun, Éric Trottier, leaves office. In the midst of digital transition, the Information Coops will lose a third of their workforce by the end of the year, with 125 voluntary departures.
This was announced Thursday by the general director of Information Coops, Geneviève Rossier, in an internal communication. Mr. Trottier had been at the helm of the Quebec daily since January 2022. Previously, he had been vice-president of information and deputy editor at The Press.
Marc Gendron, Senior Director of Digital Growth, will now serve as Editor of the Sun. Mr. Gendron has been responsible for the development of the group’s digital platforms since 2020. His first mandate will be “to review the allocation of roles within its teams” to promote the current transition.
All this comes as the six regional dailies of the Coops de l’Information will no longer be printed in paper format from the end of December 2023.
Some 125 people, which represents around a third of the organization’s workforce, have already confirmed that they will benefit from the voluntary departure program offered to them.
In full restructuring
According to Mme Rossier, “this restructuring places Le Sun and the needs of the media at the heart of our future digital development.”
“Since around a hundred colleagues are leaving the company in January, it is normal that management also decreases. Finally, this restructuring meets the requirements of responsible financial management during a period of turbulence in the media. All my thanks to Éric Trottier for his contribution to the success of our project,” she also says.
Since June 2020, the Coop newspapers, i.e. The right, The sun, The gallery, The Nouvelliste, The Voice of the East And The Daily kept only one paper edition, that of Saturday. The last printing date for these six newspapers should be around December 31.
The six dailies are cooperatives having been created in December 2019, at the initiative of employees and executives, who managed to raise public and private funding of around 21 million, notably from the Desjardins Movement and the Solidarity Fund. FTQ.
PHOTO ERICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
The six regional dailies of the Information Coops will no longer be printed in paper format from the end of December.
At the time, it was the financial difficulties and the bankruptcy of their former owner, the Capitales Médias Group, which caused these upheavals.
Tough times for the media
In recent months, several other media groups have had to make difficult decisions. Faced with a “critical” situation at TVA Group, Pierre Karl Péladeau announced last week the dismissal of 547 employees, or nearly a third of the workforce. The Métro Média company, which includes the newspaper Metro and 16 local weeklies, also confirmed in August the immediate suspension of its activities.
According to our information, The duty also informed certain employees on Thursday that they would soon be laid off. A voluntary departure program had been put in place, but did not work as management wanted. The daily did not wish to react or confirm this information.
On the English side, Postmedia, which notably owns National Post, Montreal Gazette and the Vancouver Sunlaid off 11% of its editorial staff in January.