Trade Union to Lodge Complaint
over AFP’s Decision to Flout
French Electoral Law
Printable version (pdf)
The SUD-AFP trade union has decided to lodge an official complaint over Agence France-Presse's decision to provide its clients with estimates of election results before the legal deadline of 8:00 pm, when the last polling stations close in France.
The union is to take its complaint before the agency's "higher council", the watchdog body charged with ensuring that AFP conforms to the key provisions of its 1957 statutes.
In a statement issued on Friday, May 4, SUD-AFP noted that AFP's decision, already put into effect during the first round of voting on April 22, was "incompatible with the principle under which all citizens have to enjoy equal voting rights".
The union noted in particular that only voters equipped with an Internet connection or another way of monitoring foreign news sources were able to access estimates of election results published before the deadline.
AFP management has cited the circulation of such reports, notably via social media on the Internet, as the justification for its own decision to provide them to its clients.
The two bodies in charge of monitoring compliance with electoral law - the Commission nationale de contrôle de la campagne présidentielle and the Opinion Poll Commission (Commission des sondages) have jointly stated that "until the last polling stations have closed on the French mainland, no exit poll figures and no estimates of the election results may be broadcast by any means whatsoever."
In another statement issued on April 20, two days before the first round of voting, the Opinion Poll Commission explained that the ban on publishing such estimates before the deadline was intended to "guarantee the honesty of the election and the freedom of voters." The commission added that "any references to such poll results on the day of the election should be viewed as rumours or attempts at manipulation. For that reason, no credence should given to such reports."
Following AFP's decision to flout these rules during the first round of the presidential election, the Commission said it was taking legal action against the agency. "Violations of the law have been observed... and reported to the Paris public prosecutor's office. In particular those committed by AFP, RTBF and a number of web sites of which some were set up for the purpose of getting round French laws." Infringements had also been noted by "private individuals using social networks", the statement added.
AFP management played down its own decision by asserting that the statute aimed at ensuring that the vote was free and fair "can be viewed as an embargo." In a note published on April 20, management stated that "if one or several media, in France or elsewhere, breaks what can be considered an embargo, AFP, within the framework of its mission, will consider itself obliged to publish its own information."
Thus has AFP management invented a new "public interest mission" for the agency: broadcasting rumours and becoming an accessory to manipulation of the electorate. Yet it justifies its transgression by pointing a finger at other media, guilty of doing the same thing.
Article 5 of AFP's founding statutes states that "The higher council can be petitioned by a user or by a professional news organisation... concerning any issue liable to be considered a violation of the obligations laid out in Article 2."
The said Article 2 notably states that "Agence France-Presse may under no circumstances take account of influences or considerations liable to compromise the exactitude or the objectivity of the information it provides..."
The "exactitude and the objectivity" of news is indeed compromised when AFP broadcasts "rumours" and "attempts at manipulation", as noted by the official Opinion Poll Commission.
The second article of AFP's statutes further stipulates that the agency "must, to the full extent that its resources permit... provide French and foreign users with exact, impartial and trustworthy information."
Publishing supposed estimates of the election results before the official deadline is a way of subverting the honesty of the electoral process. And disseminating rumours is exactly the opposite of providing "exact, impartial and trustworthy information".
SUD-AFP considers that the position of AFP's management is unworthy of the agency's principles. Our union will defend any AFP employee who refuses to participate in such violations of the law.
Under the general-interest mission laid down in the law defining AFP's statutes, the agency has a duty to promote democratic values by providing a complete and wide-ranging news service, respectful of basic ethical and legal principles.
No supposed principle of "modernity" can justify AFP's decision to undermine not only labour rights and the law of the land, but also basic democratic freedoms.
Paris, 1530 GMT on Sunday May 6, 2012
SUD-AFP Trade Union (SUD Culture & Médias Solidaires)
Trade Union News in English
from SUD-AFP
Herewith the key points from our recent publications in French, updated to take account of the latest developments.
More info on SUD-AFP, along with the address of the printable version of this document, can be found at the end of this text.
Annual Wage Negotiations
French labour law calls for an annual round of union-management talks on wages; it began on March 1st.
Wages for HQ-status staff at AFP were frozen in 2008 and 2009. In the following year, management unilaterally granted a lavish increase of 27.50€ in gross pay for most but not all staff, and then in 2011, following the national collective bargaining agreements for French media workers, most of us lucky folk got raises of either 0.5% or 1%, although some staff again got nothing.
Thin pickings indeed, given that according to the French national statistics agency Insee, retail prices rose by a total of 6.7% between December 2007 and the end of 2011.
During the initial meetings this month, SUD and the other unions therefore hammered home the need for significant wage hikes for all staff, including freelancers, who have too often been forgotten in the past.
At the latest meeting, on March 23, the joint unions put forward a demand for an across-the-board increase of 150€ per month for all HQ-status staff. This would mean that lower-paid categories of staff got higher increases in percentage terms; according to our calculations a journalist paid at Category 5 would see a raise of 4.2%; a similar percentage increase should be provided for freelancers.
SUD also intends to press demands for wage increases for non-headquarters-status staff, an initiative which would mean liaising with local trade unions in countries where they exist, and exerting direct pressure on management where they don't.
Management has so far not replied to the unions' demands.
NB: In common with most of the other unions, SUD refuses to make any linkage between the annual "primes et promotions", which are purely a management initiative, and the much more important issue of wage increases for all. In response to a formal question filed by SUD, management has said they are postponing the announcement of this year's bonuses and promotions until the second half.
Immoral and Unfair Labour Practices
During recent union-management talks we have denounced a whole range of endemic problems including:
- Arbitrary appointment policies, sometimes involving job offers that are mysteriously withdrawn despite there being valid candidates;
- Grossly unfair career paths, with some staff leading a charmed existence while others languish for years on low pay; some getting indefinite extensions to postings while others are forced into catastrophic moves on the pretext of "mobility", despite valid career or family reasons;
- "Promotions" that actually result in zero pay increases thanks to an iniquitous bonus policy that involves taking away with one hand what management grants with the other;
- Trickery over task-based pay measures for journalists (notably those occupying "chef de vac" slots);
- In some cases, failure to respect the agreed career path (again, for journalists) even when staff have jumped through all the necessary hoops.
Picture Editing Set-Up in Europe and Africa
AFP management is seeking to further decentralise the picture editing service for Europe and Africa, both by merging the France and International desks in Paris and spinning off more of their activities to sub-regional bureaus in London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid and Moscow.
It is trying to sell these changes as necessary to "bring editors closer to clients", and to supposedly boost efficiency. To us, they look very much like a further step in the direction of a multi-speed, outsourced AFP in which management can increasingly play off the interests of HQ-status journalists against local hires.
The plan would also further exacerbate the drift towards ever more direct validation of content from local bureaus rather than from the centre, a strategic shift which AFP management has never explicitly outlined or defended.
(...) During a Works Committee meeting in February, your elected union reps unanimously refused to vote on this plan, and the Health and Safety Committee (CHSCT) took the same view last week.
The plan comes before the Works Committee again on March 29th: without mobilisation by staff it is likely to go through.
Refurbishment of The Paris HQ Building - Asbestos Alert
On March 13, CEO Emmanuel Hoog threw open the doors of both the main building and the Rue Vivienne annex for a champagne-and-snacks event billed as the "inauguration of AFP's new premises" - even though the latter are far from finished.
Spruced up for an event which M. Hoog assured the Works Committee would cost "no more than 15,000 euros", the empty second-floor space of the main building looked very smart. It could clearly accommodate a good part of the editing desks which were removed to the two floors of Rue Vivienne last year, thereby splitting the agency's main worldwide editorial centre into separate parts.
Many staff have noted that it would still not be too late to change the plans drawn up by M. Hoog's predecessor Pierre Louette, and which call for the second floor to be devoted to sales and marketing rather than journalism. Our editorial services should work in the same spaces as far as possible - and the lights should be seen to be on at night in the highly-visible HQ of the world's number-three news agency!
Meanwhile some participants at M. Hoog's "soirée" were concerned by more insiduous threats. One national trade union official pointed to a recent French report on absestos(1), which was used in the Paris HQ and is now being removed at great cost. According to the report, highlighted by the labour specialist Gérard Filoche on his blog(2), the danger from microscopic asbestos fibres is much greater than previously believed.
"I think that going on working in this building while the removal of absestos is still under way is dangerous," the union official told us. M. Filoche, who until recently was the labour inspector responsible for AFP, believes the government is covering up the need for immediate action on the newly-discovered risks.
SUD has raised this issue before the Health and Safety Committee.
Upcoming Events, Useful Info
SUD-AFP is a France-based trade union whose members include all categories of HQ-status staff, and which also demands equal rights for local-status employees around the world.
(...)
. Among recently-published documents: the latest management list of staff on HQ-status short-term contracts.
- Our public English-language web site can be found at
http://sudafpengl.zeblog.com ;
the main French site is at http://sudafp.zeblog.com/ .
- To (...) contact us by e-mail: mailto:sudafp@orange.fr.
SUD-AFP, Tuesday March 27th, 2012
Notes:
1) French asbestos report
http://www.afsset.fr/index.php?pageid=717&parentid=424
2) Filoche blog article:
http://www.democratie-socialisme.org/spip.php?article2595
AFP’s Founding Statutes
A Major Victory:
On to the Next Battle!
Printable version (pdf)
The French Parliament has just adopted an amendment to Article 13 of AFP’s statutes, which defines the relationship between the agency and the state.
This marks the second time in less than a year that the 1957 law laying down our company’s statutes has been changed: the first having resulted from SUD-AFP’s successful constitutional challenge to allow staff of all nationalities to take part in the triennial elections to AFP’s board.
Our court case brought an end to discrimination on the grounds of nationality. The latest reform, sponsored by the French government, is aimed at making AFP’s statutes compatible with the economic treaties that the European Union has imposed on us, despite the fact that French voters decisively rejected their basic premises in the 2005 constitutional referendum.
According to those treaties, the funds provided to AFP by the French government are considered, at least in part, to be subsidies. As such, the rules stipulate that they be justified as “Services of general economic interest”, or “general interest missions” in French terminology. Those were the grounds cited by the German news agency DAPD in lodging a complaint against AFP with the European Commission.
We can afford to smile at the hypocrisy involved in banning such subsidies at a time when the selfsame European Union is busy destroying the lives of entire populations in order to save private banks and investment funds with the help of billions taken away from workers and pensioners.
Despite that major reservation, SUD, along with the other AFP trade unions, has stated that “writing the general interest missions into the statutes is a good solution if we are to defuse the conflict with Brussels and defend AFP’s statutes… which have been repeatedly attacked in recent years.”
In its new form, the first paragraph of Article 13 will now read:
“Agence France Presse's resources comprise the income it gains from the sale of documents and news services to its customers, financial compensation from the state for the net costs incurred by the carrying-out of its general interest missions as those missions are laid down in Articles 1 and 2, and revenue from its assets.”
It should be recalled that Articles 1 and 2 of AFP’s statutes define the company as an “autonomous civil entity” which may “under no circumstances take account of influences or considerations liable to compromise the exactitude or the objectivity of the information it provides” and which “may under no circumstances fall under the control, either de facto or de jure, of any ideological, political or economic grouping” (cf. http://www.sos-afp.org/en/statutes).
Grand Schemes Brought Low
We note with satisfaction that this small change to a single sentence in the 1957 statutes is all that has come of four years of strenuous efforts made by Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, helped along by AFP management, to make radical changes to the basic rules governing the world’s number-three international news agency.
The main stages in what has been an epic battle can be read on the joint unions’ “SOS-AFP” web site (http://www.sos-afp.org/en):
Ø 2008: Virulent attacks against AFP’s editorial policies by leaders of the ruling UMP party;
Ø 2009: At the request of the government, CEO Pierre Louette publishes a plan aimed at turning AFP into a “national publicly-funded company”;
Ø 2010: Louette abruptly resigns after staff mobilisation successfully blocks his plan;
Ø 2011: Publication of the Legendre law, which fails also, thanks to further trade union resistance and the approaching French elections.
Through thick and thin, with general assemblies, street protests and even a few work stoppages, AFP’s staff have amply demonstrated their commitment to the agency’s political and economic independence.
As has the general public: the impressive list of leading figures who were among the over 21,000 people to sign the “SOS-AFP” petition bears witness to the popularity of our cause.
Media Independence: A Never-Ending Struggle
The victory is therefore noteworthy: all the various demolition jobs promoted over the past four years have been headed off, and in the final analysis the only change made to our statutes has confirmed what we have been saying for years: that AFP’s activity indeed amounts to a “public interest mission” which should at all costs be protected against “influences or considerations liable to compromise the exactitude or the objectivity of the information it provides”.
If this slight change in wording enables AFP to avoid being sanctioned by the zealous defenders of “free and undistorted competition” in both Brussels and Paris, it also makes things much more difficult for all those who were hoping to use the German complaint an a wedge to push through wide-ranging changes that would effectively demolish AFP’s 1957 statutes.
It also at last opens the way for us to begin dealing with some of the underlying problems faced by AFP. Such as:
Ø What is the right development strategy if we are to ensure the survival of media free of “the control, either de facto or de jure, of any ideological, political or economic grouping”?
Ø What fundamental shared rights should we be demanding for all AFP staff worldwide, in a company, which has become a global and multicultural force?
Whatever the outcome of the impending French elections, these issues will be at the heart of debate over the new “Aims and Means Contract” (COM) between AFP and the state. Talks on that key document should be opening soon.
We must in particular focus debate on editorial policies, and the continuing slide towards ever more “infotainment” and ever-less hard news. By so doing we will help concentrate AFP’s activities on its “public interest mission” as against purely advertising- and PR-based adventures which we see as being contrary to the basic principles of our statutes.
A new chapter begins: We must be the ones to write it!
Paris, Wednesday February 29, 2012
SUD-AFP Trade Union (SUD Culture & Medias Solidaires)
January 2012 :
New Government Plan
to Change Part of AFP's Statutes
Possible Change to Part of AFP's Statutes: Update on the French Government's Plans
The French government plans to introduce into an omnibus bill currently before parliament an amendment which would modify a single article of AFP's founding statutes. The aim of the change, included in the Warsmann Bill, is to defuse a conflict with the European Commission 
over claims that AFP has been receiving illicit government subsidies.
The bill's sponsors are proposing to add a single line to Article 13 of the 1957 act of parliament that defines the Agency's statutes. In the modified clause shown below, the added words are in upper-case::
"Agence France Presse's resources comprise the income it gains from the sale of documents and news services to its customers, FINANCIAL COMPENSATION FROM THE STATE FOR THE NET COSTS INCURRED BY THE CARRYING-OUT OF ITS GENERAL INTEREST MISSIONS and revenue from its assets".
The CFDT, CGC, CGT, FO, SNJ and SUD trade unions, comprising all staff bodies officially authorised to represent headquarters-status staff at AFP, have studied the proposal and sought an appointment with Mme Laurence Franceschini, who represents both the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Culture on AFP's board of governors. The appointment is set for Thursday, January 26.
The Warsmann law is due to be examined in committee at the French National Assembly (lower house) on Wednesday January 25, and then by the full House on Tuesday January 31.
The French's Government's Rationale
The amendment's sponsors have justified the proposed change in the following terms (our translation):
"Article 13 of the Act dated January 10, 1957, laying down the statutes of Agence France-Presse (AFP), lists the agency's sources of income. It defines only two such sources: 'the sale of documents and news services to its customers' and 'revenue from its assets'.
"In exchange for its subscriptions to AFP's services, the state pays the agency substantial sums (115 million euros in 2011). These payments have given rise to the filing of a complaint with the European Commission.
"The said complaint, currently under examination, has highlighted the need to clarify the financial relationship between the state and AFP by distinguishing between subscriptions per se and compensation provided for the general interest missions that parliament has charged the agency with carrying out.
"The said missions result in particular from Articles 1 and 2 of Law n°57-32 of January 10, 1957 defining the Statutes of Agence France-Presse:
"The present article therefore aims to make explicit mention, among the funds available to AFP that are mentioned in Article 13 of the 1957 law, of compensation from the state for the general interest missions that the agency is asked to fulfil.
"Its adoption would make it possible to change the Aims and Means Contract drawn up between the state and AFP so as to specify the said missions and make practical provisions for their compensation. The funds provided by the state to AFP would then be shared out between subscriptions and compensation for general interest missions."
The Joint Unions' Position
-
The joint unions are pleased to note that earlier plans for hasty and far-ranging changes to AFP's statutes have been dropped and replaced by an approach which seems both more prudent and more responsible. For the first time, the notion of "general interest mission" would be explicitly laid out in the agency's founding statutes. And this with the sole declared purpose of bringing AFP's financial arrangements into line with the new demands of European legislation, brought in well after the adoption of the 1957 statutes.
-
We agree with the principle behind the change proposed by the government. However the joint unions ask that the notion of general interest mission(s) be clearly linked to the first two articles of AFP's statutes, which define the said mission.
-
For that reason it would be preferable for the amended text to read as follows:
"...BY FINANCIAL COMPENSATION FROM THE STATE FOR THE NET COSTS INCURRED BY THE CARRYING-OUT OF ITS GENERAL INTEREST MISSIONS AS LAID DOWN IN ARTICLES 1 AND 2 OF THE PRESENT LAW..."
-
The joint unions are categorically against any other amendment liable to adulterate the 1957 Statutes.
-
A separate article of the Warsmann omnibus bill aims to change a government order concerning news agencies dating from 1945. The said amendment refers to "private news agencies". AFP's 1957 statutes, which effectively define the agency as a sui generis entity that is neither state-owned nor private, make no reference to the 1945 order. However the Warsmann Act would replace the word "private" by "commercial companies".
To avoid any misunderstandings, the joint unions demand the addition of an amendment to the relevant article of the bill which would specify that:
"THIS ORDER APPLIES TO ALL NEWS AGENCIES EXCEPT THOSE THAT ARE GOVERNED BY A SPECIFIC LAW".
AFP would thereby remain governed by no other law than that of January 10, 1957.
Possible Need for New Mobilisation
After our appointment with the government representative on Thursday January 26, we will hold a new meeting of the joint unions to discuss our options in the light of the government's intentions.
If we consider that the situation gives cause for concern, we stand ready to convene a new staff General Assembly in Paris and to renew the mobilisation to defend AFP's statutes.
AFP staff who have questions or comments to make about the joint unions' stance are invited to write to the collective e-mail address, "inter AT afp.com"
Joint AFP trade unions, January 19 and 26, 2012
Emmanuel Hoog Rides Roughshod
over Staff & Union Rights
First he tried to promote the dismantling of AFP's founding statutes via the French parliament, with help not only from a Senator from Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party but also from a PR firm with links to the president (more info on this at http://www.sos-afp.org/en/new_storm ).
And when that didn't turn out too well, CEO Emmanuel Hoog tried to push his reforms to the unions and other interest groups via bilateral "consultations", hoping thereby to divide and rule.
SUD already rejected such methods last month: the CEO must submit such key issues as the company's statutes and the possible definition of "public interest missions" aimed at satisfying the European Commission to the joint unions together, not separately.
This point is all the more important given that M. Hoog is in the habit of riding roughshod over the bodies elected by AFP's HQ-status staff, which under French labour law have to be consulted on key issues.
Recent examples in the long list of key initiatives that have been set in motion without any prior consultation with either the Works Committee or the Health and Safety Committee include:
- the firing of several France-based freelancers;
- changes to working hours in technical services;
- the costly latest stage of renovation work on the Paris headquarters building;
- the outsourcing of the provision of most sporting results data.
Not to mention the launch of such high-profile products and services as the Agency's Facebook and Twitter pages, and the recently-launched IPad app in English.
Another reason for our refusal to go into a one-on-one huddle with M. Hoog: his failure to respond to our repeated demands for at least minimum visibility on the new AFP Intranet, ASAP2. When is M. Hoog going to get a simple link to the trade union sites back on the home page of the company intranet?
The current site is a disaster on many counts, and it has made the unions even less visible than before for many staff.
Given his lack of responsiveness on these and other issues, our answer to M. Hoog's latest invitation to a cosy chat is still: "Thanks, but no thanks."
The CEO should come clean and discuss these and other issues before the next works committee meeting, due on Thursday, November 24.
PS: After having disregarded French labour law since 1997 in the way it calculates holiday pay for headquarters-status staff, management has finally agreed to cough up at least part of the shortfall this month.
All HQ status staff should be getting a letter in the next week to state how much management reckons is owed, with the sums to be paid out at the end of the month.
SUD will return to this issue once the letters have been received; needless to say we reserve judgement on whether the proposed redress will actually be sufficient.
If someone steals your motorbike and then compensates you by giving you a pushbike several years later, what should your reaction be?
SUD-AFP (SUD Culture & Médias Solidaires), Tuesday November 15, 2011
Staff Rebuke CEO
for His Stance
on AFP's Statutes
Note-joint-AFP-unions
Censure Motion: Powerful Rebuke for CEO Emmanuel Hoog
PARIS, 08/09/2011 - Statement by joint AFP headquarters-status trade unions (CGT , SNJ , CFDT, FO, SUD , CGC and SAJ-UNSA)
Herewith the results of the internal staff vote on a censure motion against chief executive Emmanuel Hoog:
Eligible to vote: 1,380
Votes cast: 797 (57.75%)
In favour: 704 (88.33%)
Against: 45 (5.65%)
Abstentions: 48 (6.02%)
The result signifies a clear and unequivocal rejection of the methods used by the agency's president to push through as quickly as possible the members' bill tabled by a French senator with the aim of undermining AFP's current statutes.
This is shown by the high turn-out and crushing majority in favour of the motion, submitted by the joint CGT, SNJ, CFDT, FO, SUD, CGC and SAJ unions, despite the fact that the vote was held over only 48 hours.
The censure motion notably states that "staff call on the chief executive to immediately cease and desist from his disgraceful dealings against the interests of the agency and its staff, and to abandon all promotion of Senator Legendre's draft law. The latter contains serious threats against the survival, the independence and the image of the agency worldwide."
"Which is why we are casting the present vote to express our censure of the CEO and his methods", the motion concludes.
On the basis of this vote, the joint unions and staff demand that CEO Emmanuel Hoog PUBLICLY MAKE KNOWN BY MIDDAY ON TUESDAY (1000 GMT) AT THE LATEST that in the light of the resolute opposition to his projects, he considers it no long either desirable or opportune that the Legendre draft law be debated by parliament.
We ask that the CEO give a clear and unambiguous reply to this solemn appeal.
The joint unions state that if Emmanuel Hoog fails to take full account of the censure expressed by staff, they will call for a 24-HOUR STRIKE FROM WEDNESDAY TO THURSDAY, as a warning to the AFP board of governors, due to meet on Thursday.
As soon as the CEO's answer has been provided to the joint unions, a STAFF GENERAL ASSEMBLY will take place to decide collectively what further measures should be taken.
The joint unions will also hold a news conference on Tuesday, September 13.
Lastly, the unions have decided to write to the Senate to inform its members of staff's rejection of the draft law currently submitted to them, and to invite them to draw the required conclusions by witholding support from the Legendre proposal in parliament.
Joint AFP trade unions - Paris 08/09/2011
The above text is available on the Internet at SOS-AFP web site:
http://www.sos-afp.org/en/new_storm#motion-results
Version originale en français :
http://www.sos-afp.org/fr/mobilisation_sept2011#adoptee
AFP staff have already clearly stated their rejection of the text of the member's bill tabled in the French parliament by Jacques Legendre, a senator from the ruling UMP party. That text seeks to rush through changes to Agence France-Presse's statutes only months before major political elections in France. Chief Executive Emmanuel Hoog has nevertheless seen fit to seek a new agreement with a firm of lobbyists ("Media9") to try and force through the reform via actions aimed at influencing French lawmakers, the European Union authorities and staff, the better to win adoption of the Legendre bill in parliament.
The CEO's denials regarding the hiring of the company in question, run by someone close to the current French president Nicolas Sarkozy, have been both tardy and confused. M. Hoog's statements have done nothing to allay the indignation of staff over his secret dealings, which have taken place behind the backs of their union representatives.
Firstly because such dealings betray deep disdain for AFP's staff's desire for dialogue and transparency. Staff have been treated as though they counted for nothing, and have even been portrayed as internal "adversaries", as stated in part of the Media9 document revealed by the French press.
Secondly because those dealings are totally foreign to AFP's history, culture, nature and DNA. Far from acting as the defender of the agency's independence and public interest missions, as laid down in its statutes and notably their second article, M. Hoog has engaged in political manoeuvring, placing himself in the forefront of forces seeking to impose a change in those statutes without any broad consensus either in parliament or among staff.
For the above reasons, staff call on the chief executive to immediately cease and desist from his disgraceful dealings against the interests of the agency and its staff, and to abandon all promotion of Senator Legendre's draft law. The latter contains serious threats against the survival, the independence and the image of the agency worldwide. Which is why we are casting the present vote to express our censure of the CEO and his methods.
Joint CGT, SNJ, CFDT, FO, SUD, CGC and SAJ trade unions
Paris, Thursday September 1, 2011
SUD-AFP Union statement:
Antidote to Management Spin:
SUD Trade Union Publishes
Full Text of AFP Statutes in English
Recent media leaks have shown that chief executive Emmanuel Hoog sees PR spin as the best way to push through an unwanted reform of Agence France-Presse's statutes, to influence not only the general public and French MPs but also his own staff (see http://www.sos-afp.org/en/new_storm ).
Called on by the Works Committee to explain his bizarre dealings with “Media9”, a PR outfit whose boss just happens to be a former close aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, M. Hoog denied that he had signed a wide-ranging agreement with them - but did admit that his team had used them to acquire a mailing-list of international journalists!
Well that should certainly come in handy, as SUD-AFP is today publishing a set of documents in English that M. Hoog and his PR-friendly management team will no doubt be rushing to publicise!
Information pack on plans to change AFP's statutes - First translation ever of 1957 foundation document
In addition to the act of parliament that laid down AFP's statutes over half a century ago - and that is still doing just fine today, thank you - we offer:
• An annotated English version of the "statement of aims" of the draft bill currently before the French parliament;
• A similarly annotated summary of the changes proposed in the bill;
• The text of an "open letter" to French MPs in protest at the plan;
• The text of the joint-union petition launched to defend AFP from an earlier attack in 2008 - and which is still very relevant today.
Anyone wishing to get a clearer idea of what exactly is going on at one of the world's main international news agencies is invited to download these documents from the unions' "SOS-AFP" web site at
Spinmeister Hoog is fond of empty talk about "public interest missions"; we prefer to actually produce "public interest documents". Isn't that what AFP's all about, M. Hoog?
SUD-AFP Union, Monday September 5, 2011
2011 Journalists' Staff Elections:
SUD-AFP Platform
for Second Round
The second round of voting, for journalists, runs from Thursday August 25th to Friday September 23rd.
Every vote counts: don't forget to take part! Help us boost the success of the first round, when SUD gained "representative" status.
Download our Electoral Platform in English
Read David Sharp's account of his mandate on the works committee (In French only for the moment) http://www.sharp-words.com/notes/?p=116
AFP Board: Vote DOUAIHY or DUVIVIER, Works Committee and Delegates: Vote SUD
AFP Elections: Time to Choose!
As AFP staff, you are being called on to vote in two separate elections starting this week. You will be choosing:
For the AFP Board, Vote DOUAIHY or DUVIVIER
This is the only AFP election in which all staff worldwide, both local and HQ status, are allowed to take part. SUD calls on you to vote for the two candidates who best represent the spirit of WORLDWIDE STAFF UNITY and who have also shown a strong commitment to AFP as a news agency operating in the public interest:
Samir DOUAIHY for journalists’ representative. Although a non trade unionist he has been very active alongside the AFP unions, and he has played a major role in the recent battles to preserve AFP’s founding statutes. He also acted to organise a staff vote on the recent decision to move part of AFP’s Paris editorial services out of the main headquarters building on place de la Bourse. Until this year, when SUD won a legal battle to ensure that AFP staff of all nationalities could take part in the three-yearly board election, Samir was among the many who were excluded. We are proud that he is now able not only to vote but also to run.
Jacques DUVIVIER for the non-journalists’ rep. A technician at the Paris HQ and an elected union magistrate on the Paris labour court, Jacques has been an active SUD trade unionist for many years. He notably took part in our legal battle to broaden the electorate to include all nationalities.
Both of these candidates are members of the Association to Defend the Independence of AFP. Their electoral platforms can be found on the ADIAFP web site at :
http://www.adiafp.org/en/board_election_2011
For the Works Committee and Delegates, Vote SUD
Over the past two years SUD has shown that despite limited means, it is possible to advance staff interests in a spirit of unity and openness. SUD has kept staff regularly informed, in French and whenever possible in English too. David SHARP, an English-speaking journalist and one of the most active members of the Works Committee, is seeking re-election on the SUD ticket. Find out more on our English-language site: http://sudafpengl.zeblog.com/562454-2011-staff-rep-elections-at-afp-sud-afp-platform/
Attention: voting takes place online. Using an access code and password you should have received via postal mail, you cast four separate votes: for the main and alternate works committee (CE) members and for main and alternate shop stewards (DP). Vote SUD for all, and we ask you not to de-select any individual names.
See our list :
http://asap.afp.com/static/contrib/actsoc/sud/afp-listes-sud.pdf
(only on Internet Asap)
Paris, Monday June 27, 2011
SUD-AFP Trade Union (SUD Culture & Médias Solidaires)
Can a Company Regulate the Expression of its Staff on its own Internet Forums?
Read this article
AFP Board Rep Elections
Due before Summer Break: CEO
The following is an extract from SUD's account of Tuesday's AFP Works Committee meeting, accessible in French via Asap.
- AFP Board Rep Elections Due before Summer Break: CEO -
Following the ruling by the French Constitutional Council abolishing the nationality clause in the elections of staff representatives to the AFP board [See SUD statement in Engish at http://sudafpengl.zeblog.com], CEO Emmanuel Hoog told the Works Committee on Tuesday that he intended to organise a new election "before the summer".
For the first time the election will therefore be truly worldwide, with all AFP staff benefiting from the right both to vote and run as candidates, whatever their labour status or nationality.
M. Hoog added that AFP's higher council, which is charged with organising the triennial elections, was to convene either late this month or early in June. The CEO also said that he would meet with AFP's trade unions before that meeting.
SUD, which won the new voting rights for staff worldwide thanks to a long legal campaign that culminated before the Constitutional Council early this month, insisted on the importance of holding a truly international and democratic election.
The law specifies that candidacies for the two posts on on the board - one representing journalists and the other non-journalists - are lodged on an individual basis - ie not formally on behalf of unions or other bodies.
Management must be impartial, and not give the impression of backing any particular candidate. It must also avoid the many irregularities seen in the vote that it tried to organise in April, before the process was halted by a court order requested by SUD. The ballot must also be truly international.
SUD therefore suggests that ALL potential candidates contact the joint French unions, so that they can help ensure that the process is truly democratic and transparent.
For the same reasons we also encourage representatives of local-status AFP staff outside France to contact both ourselves ( mailto:sudafp@orange.fr ) and the joint unions.
At the time of writing, three AFP staff members have announced their intention to run in the elections: two journalists (Samir Douaihy and Vincent Drouin) and one non-journalist (Jacques Duvivier).
NB: This election should not be confused with the upcoming staff elections, whereby headquarters-status employees are asked to choose shop stewards (DP) and Works Committee members. That process is currently blocked pending a ruling by the French labour inspectorate on the number of "DP" posts. Under the arrangements which prevailed up until now, AFP journalists were under-represented, electing only six of the 14 shop steward posts despite the fact that they represent more than 60% of the electorate.
Paris, Thursday May 11, 2011
Full English translation of SUD's statement following the Constitutional Council ruling :
http://sudafpengl.zeblog.com/553068-all-afp-staff-worldwide-have-equal-voting-rights/
All AFP Staff Worldwide
Have Equal Voting Rights:
French Constitutional Court
-
Whatever our nationality, we can ALL both vote and be candidates for the board of governors
-
Setback for CEO; boost for SUD trade union
France's Constitutional Council has ruled that the clause in AFP's statutes whereby nationals of many states were excluded from the three-yearly election of staff representatives to the company's board is unconstitutional.
In its ruling on May 6, 2011, the Council states that "in the seventh subsection of article 7 of the 1957 law defining AFP's statutes, the phrase 'of French nationality' is unconstitutional."
Responding to SUD-AFP's application via a 'priority preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality' (QPC), the Council adds that "this declaration of non-conformity with the constitution takes immediate effect from the publication" of the decision, that it "can be referred to in ongoing procedures" and that it "has no effect on previous decisions" made by the AFP board. In other words, the relevant courts will now be able to consider the fundamental issues at stake concerning the request for the 2008 elections to be declared null and void and the suspension of the electoral farce organised by Emmanuel Hoog in April this year, only a few weeks before the Constitutional Council was due to examine SUD's application.
Despite the fact that Article 7 of the statutes says that employees taking part in the election have to be "of French nationality", AFP decided in 1998 to extend the same rights to all staff from the 30 states of the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). All others remained excluded.
According to SUD's estimate, which has never been denied by management, around a thousand out of a total of some 3,000 people employed by AFP worldwide were thereby excluded from the election, and will now benefit from the same rights as everyone else.
The Council has thereby given full satisfaction to SUD: the statement of non-conformity with the constitution relates only to discrimination preventing "non-European" staff from taking part in the election, be it as voters or as candidates; the law of January 10, 1957 which defines AFP's statutes - and which SUD has never questioned - remains fully in force save for the words "of French nationality", which are declared unconstitutional in Article 7. On this specific point, our "QPC" application has therefore made it possible to modernise AFP's statutes without demolishing them, and while showing respect for staff worldwide.
And Now for the Election!
The way is now open for an election worthy of the worldwide agency to which we all proudly belong. A worldwide vote allowing practically everyone who works regularly for AFP, whatever their status, their labour contract or their nationality, to express themselves and freely choose their representative on the board.
The election must be held in conditions of total democracy and transparency, and the participation of staff who were previously excluded should not be purely symbolic. SUD would like candidates to emerge from among non-French and non-"European" staff.
M. Hoog's Blocking Manoeuvres
As soon as he joined AFP a year ago, SUD informed Emmanuel Hoog of the procedure under way over the board elections. However he chose to handle the situation with disdain, as if it were a simple test of wills. While stating that the nationality condition did indeed "not correspond to the agency's multicultural and transnational character" and that it "can therefore appear both outdated and questionable", he went on to engage in a series of manoeuvres aimed at exploiting the conflict for his own ends. This notably involved:
1/ Preventing the QPC case from getting as far as the Constitutional Council
Acting on behalf of the CEO, AFP asked the Paris appeal court to "refuse to refer" the QPC to the Cour de Cassation (France's highest court, competent to hand the case on to the Constitutional Council). The agency also asked the appeal court to rule that SUD's case "was not serious on any level" and to condemn SUD-AFP to pay AFP 2,000 euros in costs.
Notwithstanding, both the appeal court and the Cour de Cassation upheld our QPC.
2/ Using the QPC Application as a lever to change AFP's statutes
On being elected to head AFP in the spring of 2010, M. Hoog tried to reassure staff by stating that changes to the founding statutes were "not currently an issue". A few months later, however, he changed tack. Facing the anger of French press representatives on the board over his plans to sell AFP news directly to the general public, the CEO commissioned a study from Guy Carcassonne, a constitutional specialist who is a leading member of the neo-liberal think-tank the Institut Montaigne.
The main thrust of M. Carcassonne's argument was that Article 7 of the statutes, which lays out the composition of the board of governors, was unconstitutional per se, due to a supposed conflict of interests arising from the fact that the media representatives are also clients of the agency. The conclusions submitted by AFP to the Constitutional Council were based on this idea, which is questionable to say the least. The aim being to manoeuvre the Council into asking the French parliament to change the statutes on the grounds that they were supposedly contrary to the principle of media independence and a free press.
This shows the monstrous nature of the manoeuvre attempted under Emmanuel Hoog's supervision. To counter a demand for equality of rights for all staff, AFP asked the Constitutional Council to rule that the entire article cited was unconstitutional, no less! The supreme insult and betrayal being the argument that the agency's founding document was "contrary to the principle of media independence."
The shameful nature of the argument appears to have raised hackles even in the French prime minister's office, since the observations provided by that institution for the QPC hearing contradict AFP management's stance point by point. The notes submitted by the PM's office notably state that the presence of media representatives on AFP's board "is not of a nature to infringe on its independence'.
The constitutional council appears to have shared that view, as its ruling makes no reference whatsoever to the conformity or otherwise of article 7 as a whole with the constitution.
3/ Pushing through the election to create a fait accompli
In a final throw of the dice, M. Hoog tried to ensure that the constitutional council's ruling would have no immediate effect. He therefore instructed his lawyers to argue that the non-conformity of the nationality requirement with the constitution should apply only to future elections to the board. There again, the council did not accept this, stating that its ruling "can be referred to in ongoing procedures… the outcome of which depends on the terms declared unconstitutional".
At the same time, even as the QPC application was due to arrive before the council in the near future, the CEO set in motion the electoral process for a new three-year mandate, still excluding "non-European" staff.
The fact that this operation, carried out with a glaring lack of transparency and with no respect for electoral procedures, was accepted by the main AFP trade unions is a complete mystery to us. The scheduled election was nevertheless suspended by a French court, at SUD's request. In its ruling, the court stated that AFP management "has not shown that it has sought to find a pragmatic solution pending the constitutional council's decision, and is hiding behind legal provisions which are clearly discriminatory."
Note to our Future Board Reps:
No Fuzzy Thinking on AFP's statutes!
SUD has waged this battle alone, against a management that has shown itself to be arrogant, stubborn and dishonest on this issue. To do so our union found itself between a rock and a hard place: caught between timid fellow trade unions who argued that our procedure would "open Pandora's box" and allow AFP's statutes to be changed, and a management which indeed wanted to seize on our application in order to subvert the 1957 statutes as a whole.
The CEO's manoeuvres show that questions relating to AFP's statutes will be at the heart of the coming term for our future representatives on the board. Our elected reps must therefore agree to defend AFP's founding principles and its public service mission, in the face of a CEO who will stop at nothing to denigrate and subvert those principles.
Fortified by its success before the constitutional council, SUD will give backing to candidates, both for the journalists's and the non-journalists' representatives, who have always shared our fight against discrimination and who oppose any fuzzy consensus over the statutes. In practical terms these candidates should be in agreement with the "necessary and non-negotiable preconditions" laid down by the Association for the Defence of AFP's Independence for any future changes to the agency's statutes . These state that any such changes should:
-
"Strengthen AFP's independence from all political, economic or ideological institutions or interests by providing additional guarantees to those contained in the current statutes"
-
"Be part of a real company strategy. It is also necessary to… clearly explain why a change to the statutes is needed"
-
"Have previously been approved by staff in a referendum…"
-
"Be approved by a very large majority in the French parliament."
Paris, May 6 2011
SUD-AFP (SUD Culture & Médias Solidaires)
French version, with documents:
http://static.blog4ever.com/2006/03/146783/artfichier_146783_238330_20110507045632.pdf
Discrimination against “non European” staff
Election to AFP Board:
Court Upholds
Union Suspension Demand
A court in Paris has ruled in favour of the SUD-AFP trade union by ordering the suspension of the triennial elections of two staff representatives to AFP’s board of governors. Our union has waged a long-running campaign to ensure that all AFP staff worldwide can take part in the vote, which AFP management had been planning to hold this month despite a ruling against it by the French anti-discrimination watchdog, the HALDE.
In its ruling dated April 12, the TGI court ordered the elections suspended until the French Constitutional Council has handed down its ruling on voting rights for “non-European” AFP staff. The Council is due to hear SUD’s “constitutional challenge” (QPC) application on April 27.
In its ruling the court notes that “of the 3,000 people employed by the Agency, around 1,000 will be excluded from the elections on the grounds of their nationality.” It adds that AFP’s management “has not shown that it has tried to find a practical solution pending the Constitutional Council ruling”, and has cited in its defence “legal provisions which are manifestly discriminatory.”
During the Works Committee meeting of March 24, 2011, SUD asked CEO Emmanuel Hoog to postpone the 2011 elections for a few weeks pending the Constitutional Council’s ruling. He refused to do so. The court dismissed AFP management’s argument that there were no provisions for extending the mandates of the current reps pending a delayed election. “Such an extension does not appear to be forbidden, given that fundamental employee rights are at stake,” the magistrates stated. The court further ordered that AFP pay SUD 1,200 euros in costs.
Even as we continue to hear criticism from some quarters to the effect that SUD’s campaign on this issue has been “irresponsible”, the court ruling fully confirms our principled position: defending the rights of AFP’s many “invisible” employees means ensuring their right to vote.
Discrimination, casualisation and exploitation take many forms. SUD will not give an inch in defending AFP staff rights worldwide.
Text of the court ruling (in French): http://tinyurl.com/44rv6fr
More info in English on this issue: http://tinyurl.com/62ov724
Paris, April 20, 2011
SUD-AFP Trade Union (SUD Culture & Médias Solidaires)
Elections to AFP Board:
Union Discrimination
Protest Moves Ahead
Available on the web in printable PDF format at http://tinyurl.com/6xmcn58
(Version française : http://www.solidaires.org/IMG/pdf/110317QPC.pdf )
France's highest court of appeal, the Cour de Cassation, has just ruled that an anti-discrimination complaint lodged by the SUD-AFP union can go ahead.
The court agreed that the arrangements under which the two staff reps on the AFP board of governors are elected must be vetted by France's Constitutional Court.
SUD's complaint is based on the fact that the triennial elections - which management has just announced for next month - discriminate arbitrarily against a very large number of AFP staff on the grounds of nationality.
- Divide and Rule -
Far from being a dry and dusty question of interest only to legal specialists, this issue goes to the heart of the many distinctions between different categories of staff working for our company around the world, which make it much easier for management to divide and rule.
The Court ruling, handed down on March 16th, is based on a new clause in the French Basic Law which makes it possible to challenge the constitutionality of any law or legal proceeding.
SUD's complaint, in the form of a "Prior Question of Constitutionality", or QPC, arose from a discrimination complaint lodged by a non-European journalist before the 2008 election. Supported by SUD, the protest was upheld by France's anti-discrimination body, the HALDE.
After a long (and costly) series of legal proceedings undertaken by our union, the Cour de Cassation has now agreed that the Conseil Constitutionnel must rule on the issue.
France's 1946 constitution, which was in force when AFP's statutes were enacted in 1957, laid down that all employees of a company should be able to "participate, via their delegates, in collectively determining working conditions and management."
The original 1957 statutes stated that only French nationals could vote, or be candidates, in the election of the two staff reps to the board.
In 1998 that provision was finally broadened, to bring it in line with European Union law. The right to vote in the election, and also to be a candidate, was then extended to all EU citizens, plus the nationals of the European Economic Area, which today comprises the 27 EU states plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
By SUD's estimate, which AFP management has not contested, this still leaves some 1,000 AFP staff around the world out in the cold - including of course a very large number who work in languages in other than French.
In 2008 the then CEO, Pierre Louette, acknowledged that the nationality criterion was "not legitimate", and undertook to speedily abolish it. But then nothing happened.
With the mandates of the current reps expiring on April 9th, his successor Emmanuel Hoog has now launched the process leading to a new election without waiting for the result of SUD's constitutional challenge, which should be known within around three months.
- Postpone the Vote! -
Common sense would therefore dictate that the election be postponed. A good opportunity for AFP's Higher Council, which oversees the elections, to show that it is capable of modernising the agency while respecting not only the law but also staff worldwide!
NB: For an explanation in English of the "question prioritaire de constitutionnalité", cf http://tinyurl.com/6c5khwg
SUD-AFP (SUD Culture & Médias Solidaires)
http://sudafp.zeblog.com - sudafp@orange.fr
Friday March 18, 2011
- French Labour Inspector Slams AFP over insecure Work contracts December 13, 2010
- AFP Statutes: Staff must be both, informed and consulted November 10, 2010
- What a Let-Down, M. Hoog! Open letter to the AFP's CEO, October 7, 2010
- Industrial relations at AFP: Let's Open Up the Debate, Octobrer 8,2010
- No need to dramatise (joint AFP unions), October 7, 2010
- AFP under Emmanuel Hoog: Business as usual ? Summer 2010
- Pensions and Social Progress/
Insecure Labour Contracts:
Talks to Open,
but Management Offers Little
Note-unions-CGT-CFDT-SNJ-FO-SUD-CGC-CFE
PARIS, 24/12/2010 - 1219 - The following is an English translation of the joint union statement issued yesterday:
-- Insecure Labour Contracts: Talks to Open, but Management Offers Little --
(Joint statement by the CGT, CFDT, SNJ, FO, SUD and CGC-CFE unions at AFP)
On Wednesday AFP management told the unions that it agreed to give full-time, full-status labour contracts to the four journalists who represent the agency in the main administrative regions making up the greater Paris suburbs, and also to another journalist who has long been on a temporary (CDD) contract.
[In recent years the Paris region reporters have been employed on freelance (pigiste) status].
News Director Philippe Massonnet said the new appointments would be made "right at the start of 2011."
However management had nothing of any importance to announce regarding the journalists employed as freelancers to stand in for the suburban reporters on weekends, during holidays and at other times.
Neither did they have anything to offer concerning the freelancer working in a regional bureau whose situation was outlined in detail in the warning letter sent by the Paris Labour Inspectorate to AFP Management on December 3.
Management-union negotiations on people hired on freelance status in both the Paris suburbs and the French regions, as well as on people on short-term (CDD) contracts, are due to open on January 7 and to take place every two weeks. These talks should lead to the drawing-up of a full tally of people on insecure labour contracts, with March 31 as the target date for an agreement.
At the request of the unions, management has agreed that the situation of some journalists who have worked on insecure contracts in France and then accepted local-status contracts abroad should also be taken into account.
Among outcomes envisaged by management are the setting-up of a pool system for people formerly on short-term or freelance contracts.
For journalists producing text, photos and video on pigiste contracts in the French regions, management said it was considering either ensuring them a guaranteed minimum level of work, or part-time full status contracts with working hours calculated on an annualised basis. These were "two avenues, which are only tentative," management said.
The unions expressed satisfaction at these few steps forward, but were unanimous in agreeing that the appointments announced so far were not enough.
The joint unions also warned management that they would not accept any sanctions being taken against those people on insecure labour contracts who had publicly testified about their situations on behalf of all the others, or who might in the future go to either the Labour Inspectorate or the Labour Courts to obtain redress for continuing violations of the law.
Paris, Friday December 24, 2010
Joint CGT, CFDT, SNJ, FO, SUD and CGC-CFE unions at AFP
Note-joint-unions
French Labour Inspector
Slams AFP
over Low-Cost,
Insecure Work Contracts
PARIS, 13/12/2010 - 1614 - The following is a translation of the statement issued by the joint HQ-status unions at AFP (CGT, SNJ, CFDT, FO, SUD and CFE-CGC) on Thursday, December 9th.
Some explanatory notes for English-speaking readers are provided at the end.
"The joint unions would like to draw your attention to the following letter, sent to AFP management on December 3, 2010 by the labour inspector Gérard Filoche to emphasise the "serious" situation at the agency regarding insecure labour contracts.
"Given the importance of the letter, we have decided to publish it in full:
"Dear Sir,
I hereby confirm in writing the messages I have recently sent you about the situation of staff employed on insecure labour contracts in your agency.
Having been contacted by AFP trade unions, and then by quite a lot of individual employees working on short-term or freelance contracts, I have concluded that the situation is serious.
I have observed several people in situations of distress because they have long been employed on insecure contracts, either continuously or for disparate periods. Needless to say such situations are damaging, over time, for their situations as both wage-earners and as human beings.
Studying the situation over time and in increasing detail, it has become clear to me that the official data you have been providing on the number of staff on your payroll who are employed on insecure contracts is underestimated.
Not only has there been a tendency for such contracts to be offered successively for the same posts without any consistent reason being provided, but others have been renewed without the legal "fallow period" having been respected.
My investigations have also established that four freelancers ("pigistes") employed to cover the seven administrative districts that make up the greater Paris region have in fact been "on call" 24 hours a day on weekdays, in some cases for periods of 2, 3 or 4 years. That is the case in four of the seven regions ("départements") concerned. A further nine staffers are consigned to "weekend contracts", and have been for several years. Seven of the nine are basically waiting to be able to step into the shoes of staff who are employed on weekdays. A rotating system of that type is not a valid reason for hiring someone on a short-term contract (CDD). Particularly given that the posts in question were previously held on a full-status basis (CDI).
It seems that there are similar situations in parts of France outside the Paris region. It is more difficult for me to meet them, but they are all employed under conditions similar to those of M. ______. His situation is also both serious and unjustified: despite the fact that he is a journalism school graduate, his pay slips, along with the photocopies of his work schedules and holiday periods, show that he has been employed on an insecure basis for the past eight years.
He was hired in August 2002 by the regional director for the _____ bureau, without a written contract, to cover crime and court stories, and to occasionally replace other journalists. He was officially paid as a freelancer, and earned a basic gross salary of around 1,000 euros. An extremely low amount given his overall editorial tasks, which also involve filling in for other staff at the bureau from time to time, as well as drawing up and managing the court planning schedule and creating a network of sources.
For the past five years or so, he has been paid a per-story freelance wage based on a scale which has not changed since 2008, plus a lump sum of 400 euros a month meant to cover his work maintaining the network of sources, and also the daily labour he puts in at the bureau. Around two or three times a month he is asked to stand in for other staff, ie to "fill in the gaps in the bureau's rota".
Each day doing replacements in the bureau is paid as if it was a freelance story. All in, he finds himself earning around 1,200 euros net per month for a full time job of more than 35 hours a week. This is half the amount being earned by the colleagues he is replacing. He has to be totally flexible and totally available - he has been asked to consider that AFP is his main employer - and he has no real holidays. In general he gets two or three weeks a year off, depending on the schedules of the other journalists, and he does not get compensatory time off for working weekends.
To sum up, he is present in the bureau weekday, collects and handles mail, answers the phone and manages an appointment diary for his colleagues. He is also pretty much permanently on call for crime and police blotter stories, and in some cases he finds himself doing the groundwork for a story which he will not himself cover, which means that he gets nothing more than the fixed payment mentioned above. Lastly, so as to be able to work from home, he has an AFP computer which allows him to work outside office hours if necessary.
Each time he has tried to bring up these questions with his bosses, they have dodged the issue. Recently his editor in chief basically told him that "not many freelancers earn as much as you at AFP."
In November and December 2009 he filled in for five weeks for a colleague who had holidays to use up. He then made a formal request to benefit from "normal working conditions" as a short-term (CDD) staffer, but this was not granted. In December, he effectively worked 27 of the 31 days in the month. And if he was better paid than his usual rate, it was only because he asked.
In his own words, here are some of the things he told me:
"The regional director, my only contact in management, told me that 'it was the editor in chief's office which refused to give contracts to freelancers,' claiming that 'permanent-status freelancers don't (officially) exist at AFP.' There is a dilution of responsibilities between the human resources department, the editor in chief's office and the French regional bureaus. The editor in chief's office acts as if people on insecure labour contracts didn't exist. And the local directors muddle through by offering improvised arrangements on a purely individual basis. I have heard that in some bureaus freelancers manage to top up their basic pittances by basically becoming jacks-of-all-trades, dealing with sports, crime and police blotter stories and video. In my case, I was promised that some day my efforts would be rewarded in some way or other: these were hollow words. It seems incredible that I have had to put up with such conditions for so long. My other freelance contracts (with the Journal du Dimanche, Le Figaro and Radio France) suddenly dried up, slashing my income by around 40%. My wife is on part-time work after a long illness and I have four children and a home loan to repay.
"As I have the same journalism degree as my colleagues, I have applied for a vacant full-status post in ___ and I also plan to apply for a legal affairs posting in Paris, but what hope do I have?"
Can these statements be placed in doubt?
Sir, tell me if these facts are not correct; if they are, how can such conditions exist in a great agency such as yours?
I have collected other statements from people in similar situations, which I will not outline here as the employees concerned fear for their jobs, feeling vulnerable. Relatively old staff members with children, whom I know find themselves in even more insecure circumstances.
I had requested and organised a meeting with the trade unions and your human resources director. The following three points were laid down:
- 1: A precise and detailed list of all these cases would be drawn up in liaison with the unions
- 2: A transitory and provisional pool of "new hires" would be created so that for an initial period a large number of people on insecure contracts could be given full status, without having a specific post in the initial period. This would provide a kind of buffer zone, but under full status (CDI) contracts. Needless to say such a system would need to be agreed on via negotiations with the unions and the conclusion of a company-wide agreement.
- 3: A number of serious cases would be examined, among the oldest and most flagrant situations; the jobs of these people would immediately be transformed into full status contracts.
By holding that meeting [on September 28], and providing a delay of a month, I was hoping to find a solution via flexible arrangements, and without having to draw up a formal statement of complaint (procès-verbal). For you are certainly aware that these are clear-cut cases of illicit labour practices, and that the French labour code provides for specific penalties.
Alas, two months have gone by and no progress has been made, despite my insistence.
For an agency like yours, would it not be better to find a solution without having to issue a formal statement of complaint and face legal penalties?
Awaiting your reply, yours sincerely...."
[End of letter]
(Explanatory notes: Gérard Filoche is the Labour Inspector for Paris's second arrondissement, where AFP has its head office.
(The term "précaire" - literally "precarious" - has been translated here as "insecure". It refers mainly to short-term labour contracts (CDD) and freelance (pigiste) contracts, both of which are being widely abused by AFP management.
(Such arrangements are "precarious" because they offer no long-term job security, and/or offer only low pay with no chance of getting onto the promotion ladder for full-status (CDI) staff.
(French labour law lays down strict conditions for hiring people on short-term contracts; the "fallow periods" mentioned in the text refer to gaps between successive contracts, a mechanism intended to prevent employers from keeping people on such arrangements indefinitely.
(As for "pigistes", although they are considered in law as full-status journalists, they can easily be abused by either having their hours cut or by being drafted in to do general work which falls outside the definition of a freelance contract.
(It is worth noting that if an employee proves before the labour courts that his or her employer has been abusing the law concerning such insecure contracts, the courts can order that the contract be automatically "requalified" as a full-status one).
AFP joint unions, Paris, December 9, 2010
Trade Union SUD-AFP, for Solidarity, Unity and Democracy, Agence France-Presse (French news agency)