The newspaper “La Provence” returns to newsstands after four days of strike

The employees voted for a suspension of the movement, even if they did not obtain great progress.

After four days of non-publication, the newspaper Provence is back on newsstands Tuesday, November 21. Employees voted for a suspension of the strike by a very short margin: 51% voted for a return to work. Without enthusiasm though, since they didn’t get much. The journalists wanted to avoid the situation worsening and are now considering other actions.

Never Provence had experienced four days of mobilization in a row. This historic strike is a sign of enormous disillusionment among the editorial staff, who had placed their trust in the Franco-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saadé when he presented himself as the savior of the regional daily last year. The group’s representative bodies supported him in his fight against Xavier Niel to buy back the title. One promise in particular hit the mark: there would be no job cuts.

Half as many journalists

But a year later, the commitment no longer holds. Thirty positions will disappear by the end of 2024. For the unions, it is a social plan that does not speak its name. The result is the same, since the company is reducing its workforce, while not replacing all those leaving.

Sixty journalists took the transfer clause to leave the newspaper during the change of shareholder last year. There were 56 fixed-term hires to replace them. And what management has just announced is that ultimately only 34 of these fixed-term contracts were going to be retained and transformed into permanent contracts. The editorial staff will thus go from 185 to 155 people.

Sales that continue to decline

This about-face by Rodolphe Saadé can be explained by a financial question. He wants to reduce the payroll because the daily newspaper in the South remains too loss-making: it lost 9 million euros this year, or 3 million more than the billionaire predicted. In one year, sales of Provence went from 69,000 copies to 62,000. In 2019, another 85,000 copies were sold with 60% higher advertising revenue.

However, everything was going well until then. Provence, according to the unions, even if they had not obtained salary increases to compensate for inflation. They were especially enthusiastic about the idea that the newspaper was finally getting back on a good footing after difficult years, between colossal debts and placement in compulsory liquidation. Rodolphe Saadé had put 80 million euros on the table and promised massive investments. This too risks ending up forgotten.