Walla TALK The main interview with Yaakov Ilon and Amos Shoken December 11, 2017/Reuven Castro
The decision of the management of the Ha'aretz - De Marker group to carry out a significant layoff procedure is translated into negotiations: yesterday (Monday), dozens of Ha'aretz - De Marker employees participated in a workers' meeting in which representatives of the workers' council and the journalists' organization voiced their statement of intentions regarding the move expected soon.
Reminder:
In recent weeks, the newspaper's management formulated a reduction plan in the framework of which approximately 20 journalists will terminate their employment, this in light of "the impact of the October 7th attack and the war on the newspaper's revenues."
It should also be noted that the newspaper recently raised the subscription prices, this under a similar reasoning.
The group says that the main loss is due to the loss of income from advertising and conferences during the war.
The personnel status of the Haaretz group, which also includes the newspaper The Marker, stands at about 350 employees, so it is a rate of about 6% of the number of employees at the newspaper, at least as of the starting point of the negotiations.
The move was seen by some employees as puzzling, since only a few weeks ago, in the background of the call by the Minister of Communications Shlomo Karai to stop the publication and subscription fees of all civil service users of the newspaper - officials in the country were proud of the increase in the number of readers.
At the same time, the newspaper even notes a significant increase in subscribers in English since the beginning of the war and presents a good growth forecast for 2024.
The identity of those fired is not yet known, but the basic assumption among the employees is that the proportion between the size of the systems between Ha'aretz and The Marker will be maintained, and Ha'aretz newspaper will absorb most of the departures.
In addition, in view of the continued shrinking of print and the rise of digital, it is estimated that the layoffs will extend beyond the news areas and focus on the printed newspaper.
In contrast to what is happening in the recent news, which continues to appoint managers and in the process lays off dozens of employees, the management of Haaretz is trying to establish a relationship of trust with the employees and has carried out several efficiency measures at the management level.
According to sources in the newspaper, a number of senior management positions that left have not been filled recently.
However, these are not positions in the system, but outside of it.
In the meantime, an expert representative from the journalists' organization assessed today in the ears of Walla!
Barangay that the forecast among the employees is rather optimistic since the management takes transparency and "takes very proportionate steps".
More in Walla!
The war also reaches Haaretz: at least 20 employees will be fired from the group
To the full article
Haaretz newspaper editorial office on Shoken Street in Tel Aviv/Sharon Bokov
A small team will soon be established on behalf of the organization and the committee that will receive the list of the names of the employees, and according to the organization, they intend to focus on the fight for a gradual course of layoffs in several rounds, so that if there is an improvement in the business results, it will be possible to reduce the total number of layoffs in the next rounds.
In addition, as part of the downsizing process, voluntary retirement will be offered to the employees nominated for layoffs - an outline which the employees request to be expanded so as to allow voluntary retirement for additional employees, provided that their positions can be filled from among the employees nominated for layoffs and thus further reduce the list of those to be laid off.
In the journalists' organization, they told Wala!
Branch that they continue to conduct negotiations with the management on regulating the downsizing procedure and that "the negotiations are conducted in a matter-of-fact atmosphere and we hope to reach agreements in the near future that will reduce as much as possible the harm to the group's journalists."
More on the same topic:
Country
The Marker
Amos Shoken