The
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the regional group of the
International federation of Journalists, today expressed its great concern
about the recent announcement of 22 job cuts of journalists working at the
major public Spanish Press agency EFE.
The
EFJ together with its Spanish affiliates, FAPE, FeSP and CCOO appeal to the
management of the agency and its public state shareholders to continue their
negotiations. During the last few months, the EFE management, government
representatives and the unions' officials from CCOO and UGT have negotiated a
long term strategy to overcome the critical situation of the agency after
controversial decisions of its director, Alex Grijelmo.
"We
are shocked that a major Spanish press agency and one of the main employers to
journalists in Spain
have announced such big job cuts. They will inevitably have a negative impact
on the media landscape at large," said Arne König, EFJ President of the
EFJ. "We believe that ESA has first of all to take its social and professional
responsibilities seriously and negotiate with the concerned staff and their
unions."
Over
20 journalists, including photographers, at headquarters in Madrid and delegations in the regions were
informed of the lay-offs while discussions about the renewal of the
agency future economic stabilization were still taking place.
The
announcement of these lay-offs comes just a week after the adoption by the government
of a new labour reform decree, which
facilitates lay-offs in case of business continued losses.
According
to the labour observatory of FAPE, 3.417
journalists have lost their work within the last two years.
The
EFJ and IFJ are increasingly concerned by the dramatic crisis within European
press agencies including photo agencies and consider that the change in the media
industry requires more than ever before professional, independent, unbiased and
reliable news reporting.
For more information
contact the EFJ at +32 2 235 2200
The EFJ represents over 250,000 journalists in over 30 countries in Europe
