Tamedia employees protest against cutbacks in Zurich
Published: Tuesday, Oct 31st 2023, 14:40
Updated At: Wednesday, Nov 1st 2023, 00:55
Retour au fil d'actualité
Well over 100 TX Group employees protested in Zurich on Tuesday against job cuts. According to the journalists' association Impressum, there were around 250. The employees demanded a freeze on savings until at least 2025.
In front of the TX Group headquarters, the protesters unfurled a banner at noon on Tuesday that read "Solidarity with those affected - Stop downsizing". The group includes titles such as "Tages-Anzeiger", "20 Minuten" and "Berner Zeitung".
The staff handed over an open letter to Tamedia CEO Jessica Peppel-Schulz, which, in addition to the savings freeze, demands a journalistic vision and that shareholders forego dividends.
Several speakers spoke of ever new cost-cutting measures, some of which were not even known to the public. For example, jobs are often not filled again. Other media houses, too, would only save money. "Quality journalism in Switzerland is dying by the slice," they said.
Action also in Lausanne
The protest was prompted not least by the fact that many long-serving employees had received their notice of termination last week, as Keystone-SDA was able to learn from the workforce.
The action was organized by the staff and supported by the Syndicom trade union and the Imprint journalists' association. An action was also held in Lausanne at the same time.
TX Group had recently announced plans to cut 56 jobs in French-speaking Switzerland and around 30 in German-speaking Switzerland, affecting staff at "20 Minuten", "20 minutes" and the paid titles.
Tamedia, which combines the pay newspapers, already saved around CHF 70 million between 2020 and 2022. Among other things, the editorial teams of the "Berner Zeitung" and "Bund" were merged at that time.
©Keystone/SDA
French 
English 
German 
Spanish 
Arabic