The unions of the Canal + group (CFE CGC, + Libres and CGT) denounced, in a press release on Saturday, "the authoritarian abuses" of the management of the channel, where three freelancers were dismissed for having supported the comedian Sébastien Thoen.
Tuesday, the site Les Jours revealed that three freelance journalists from the sports writing of Canal + "were fired on Monday" for having signed a text of support for Sébastien Thoen.
He himself had been fired from Canal + for a parody targeting CNews, the group's news channel, whose parent company Vivendi is controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré.
Information that the group's management had not commented on.
"No one is immune to this kind of method"
In their press release, the three unions were indignant at "the end of collaboration" between the channel and these three freelancers.
"Is the witch hunt we dreaded on?"
», They asked.
While Canal + has just recovered all of the rights of L1, they consider that this decision is "incomprehensible" and that management "must protect employees and ensure a constructive future for the group".
"We are taking a stand against the danger posed today by the authoritarian excesses of the management", they add, calling on all those "who love this channel and who wish to defend freedom of expression", artists, journalists, politicians, subscribers, to support them.
"No one is immune to this kind of method," conclude the three unions.
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Another trade union organization, the journalists' union SNJ, rose up this week against the "repression" and the bringing into line "initiated by the leaders of the Canal + group and their main shareholder".
150 employees had signed the text of support for Sébastien Thoen, published by the Society of Journalists of the Encrypted Channel, in which they claimed their attachment to "freedom of expression, caricature or parody".
Already, in December, the commentator Stéphane Guy had also been disembarked on Christmas Eve, after 23 years of house, for having paid tribute to the antenna to the comedian.
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