Threat of strike, concerns about the proposed mergers with CNews ... Tension rose a notch Thursday at Europe 1, journalists fearing for months a takeover of the Lagardère group station by its main shareholder, the billionaire Vincent Bolloré.
Read also: Bolloré multiplies the bridges between Canal + and Europe 1
At the end of a general meeting, the employees threatened to go on strike if the management did not reconsider a sanction procedure targeting a journalist. Laid off Thursday, this journalist is
"summoned for a preliminary interview" which
could
"go as far as dismissal"
, Olivier Samain, SNJ union representative, told AFP. At the origin of this sanction: the
"vehement"
but not
"insulting"
remarks made by the journalist against a human resources employee during a general meeting on Wednesday. He surprised her
"in the process of recording the words"
, suspecting her of wanting to transmit them to management, Olivier Samain reported.
Despite the mobilization of the intersyndicale SNJ, CGT, CFTC and FO, the disciplinary procedure was maintained. The management invokes its previous behavior, according to a participant of the general assembly. This gave an ultimatum to management, until Friday 1 p.m., said Olivier Samain. And
"threatens to trigger a work stoppage,"
added the other source. Asked by AFP, the management declined to comment.
This crisis broke out in a tense climate, within an editorial staff that was already
"depressed"
.
By the plan of voluntary departures initiated in the spring to eliminate about forty positions and rectify the accounts of the radio, whose audiences are struggling to rise.
But also by the synergies that management wants to develop with CNews, the Canal + group's news channel, a subsidiary of Vivendi, controlled by Vincent Bolloré, as it announced to employees in May.
Do not "become an opinion media"
In a column published Thursday on the
World
website
, the editorial company of Europe 1 and the inter-union expressed their concerns, refusing
"to become an opinion media"
at
"the dawn of an election year"
.
"By linking its fate to a chain which is illustrated all day long by a political activism strongly anchored to the right, even sometimes to the extreme right, Europe 1 will lose what remains most precious to it: its capital of credibility with listeners, ”
they say.
They thus announce to seize
"the ethics committee of the station"
, asking
"Arnaud Lagardère and the direction of the information to clarify their positions"
to allow the journalists in disagreement with the editorial line to leave Europe 1
"via a conscience clause ”
.
For Olivier Samain, the
“stranglehold”
of Vincent Bolloré, Lagardère's new strongman, on the station he wanted to buy,
“is manifested by the fact that we are starting to see names (of journalists) circulating who would be chosen”
at
"Canal headquarters"
and
"not directly at Europe 1"
.
"Very strong right-wing"
For the umpteenth overhaul of its grid, the radio, which will in particular separate from Pascale Clark and Anne Roumanoff and see Julian Bugier leave, also told Matthieu Belliard that he would no longer present the morning show at the start of the school year, ensures a journalist from Europe 1 to AFP. According to
Le Parisien
, it is Dimitri Pavlenko, classic Radio journalist and speaker of “Face à l'Info” alongside Eric Zemmour on CNews, who holds the rope to replace him on this section occupied before him by Patrick Cohen and Nikos Aliagas.
There was already
"a drift on the merits, with the very strong right-wing editorial line looming"
, initiated by the recruitment at the start of the 2020 school year of a current Values executive, Louis de Raguenel, as deputy to the political service , and illustrated by
"the total freedom"
of Sonia Mabrouk, figure of CNews, for her political interview on the station, estimates a journalist from Europe 1. To be added now, with the dismissal of his colleague,
"a drift on form ”
with
“ management by terror ”
.
"It looks like the methods we have seen at work recently at the sports service of Canal +"
, where about twenty people were pushed to the exit, agrees Olivier Samain.
