Text of report by French news agency AFP
Paris, 2 June 2009: The “indefinite” strike at Radio France Internationale (RFI), which began on 12 May in protest at a social plan envisaging 206 job losses, entered its fourth week on Tuesday [2 June] and continues to disrupt broadcasts, a union source told AFP.
The strike was prolonged for 24 hours on Tuesday by a general assembly, AFP was told by Maria Afonso, [Workers' Strength] (FO) secretary of the works council. “People are standing firm. There’s solidarity,” she said.
Managers say a minority are on strike each day, disrupting broadcasts, whereas the unions say employees are taking turns in order to minimize the impact on staff as much as possible.
In a joint trade union statement, FO, SNJ [National Union of Journalists], SNJ-CGT [National Union of Journalists-General Confederation of Labour] and the SNRT-CGT [National Radio and Television Union-General Confederation of Labour] again asked Nicolas Sarkozy’s social affairs advisor Raymond Soubie for a “delegation to be received” as a matter of urgency at the Elysee Palace which the union would like to mediate. “We cannot accept that the state is laying people off at RFI,” the unions wrote.
Instructed by the works council, the Court of Appeal on 12 May suspended the social plan and asked managers to brief staff representatives on the establishment of the French Foreign Broadcasting holding company (AEF) which brings together RFI, France 24 and TV5Monde. On Wednesday, a tribunal is to consider the validity of this injunction, Ms Afonso explained.
The joint trade unions are seeking a “moratorium” on the social plan announced in January in order to be able “to negotiate in good conditions”, Ms Afonso said.
Managers have offered terms for ending the dispute while, however, “restating the need to implement the social plan”, the works council secretary said with regret. In an internal mail to staff, CEO Alain de Pouzilhac wrote that “halting deficits” is a “pre-condition”.
He said that with unions that were not calling for a strike (the CFDT [French Democratic Confederation of Labour], CFTC [the French Federation of Christian Workers] and CFE-CGC [the white collar union]) he was “ready to sign” an agreement on terms for voluntary departures which “improve financial conditions” and should enable a “reduction in compulsory departures”.
“We haven’t been on strike for three weeks in order to negotiate over the social plan,” said the joint trade unions.
(Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in French 1737 gmt 2 Jun 09 via BBC Monitoring)
