Tamedia has announced job cuts at its German-speaking Swiss media as part of a savings program. Up to 20 jobs are to be cut. The reduction of 28 jobs in French-speaking Switzerland was announced on Wednesday.
The job cuts in German-speaking Switzerland are part of a savings package totaling 6 million francs. 3.5 million francs of this are in French-speaking Switzerland, as was announced on Wednesday. The remaining 2.5 million francs are attributable to Tamedia media titles in German-speaking Switzerland.
Tamedia informed employees in German-speaking Switzerland about the plans this Thursday morning. An employee confirmed the key details of the savings program to Keystone-SDA, as Persoenlich.com reported.
French-speaking Switzerland was more affected
In western Switzerland, Tamedia is cutting up to 28 of 250 jobs. Employees of all titles and functions are affected by the restructuring. The Zurich media group justifies the restructuring with the weak sales development.
The measures became necessary after Tamedia had to accept continuous losses in sales in recent years, especially in French-speaking Switzerland, said Tamedia boss for Western Switzerland, Christine Gabella, and Tamedia managing director Andreas Schaffner to the media on Wednesday.
Legend: Tamedia wants to save a total of 6 million francs with the job cuts. Keystone/Laurent Gillieron
The business model has come under pressure due to digital developments, explained Gabella. In French-speaking Switzerland, the media industry is traditionally more financially dependent on advertisements than in the German-speaking part of the country, said Schaffner.
In addition, the advertising market in French-speaking Switzerland has deteriorated more quickly. That is why the decline in sales has a greater impact in French-speaking Switzerland. “If we don’t react, our results will deteriorate even further,” explained Schaffner.
Outraged employees
The editorial teams of “24 heures”, “Tribune de Genève”, “Le Matin dimanche”, Tamedia (sections Switzerland, World, Economy), the employees of photography, publishing and layout, the digital team as well as the professional association Imprint and the media union Syndicom condemned the planned job cuts sharply.
3.5 million francs would be saved on staff alone. The editorial staff is fed up with a management that no longer invests in its media and is slowly letting it die at the expense of subscribers and society, according to a press release from Imprint.
The largest Swiss publishing house has officially decided not to give its editorial teams the opportunity to properly carry out their work, which is important for democracy. He is also abdicating his social responsibility by allowing jobs to disappear in an already struggling sector.
The union criticized that this was largely due to decisions that had been based exclusively on profit logic for years. The latest austerity measures follow a comprehensive austerity package in recent years. In the past three years, the editorial teams of Tamedia titles have already had to save 70 million francs.