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Unions Call for Vote on 24-hour Strike

Monday 11 February 2013

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Unions Call for Vote on 24-hour Strike from Wednesday February 13 at 8:00 am (0700 GMT)

After the staff general assembly held this Monday, all the unions representing headquarters-status staff at AFP (CFDT, CGT, CFE-CGC, FO, SNJ and SUD) call on staff working in France, plus all HQ-status employees in Africa, to observe a 24-hour strike starting at 8:00 am Paris time (0700 GMT) on Wednesday.

Staff present at the Paris general assembly voted almost unanimously (one vote against) in favour of the strike call. Staff who were not able to be present at the assembly are called upon to cast their votes for or against the movement by 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday.

To ensure that the voting process is confidential, we call on staff to cast votes by sending an e-mail to Philippe Faye (philippe.faye "at" afp.com), secretary of the Works Committee, stating for example "I am in favour of the strike / je suis pour la grève".

The new strike has been made necessary by management’s decision to go back on assurances given to the unions at talks on Friday. The strike demands are as follows:

  • 1/ Withdrawal of the plan for a new "France Region", as demanded in a motion submitted by the unions and the elected works committee members on January 24;
  • 2/ Africa: Cancellation of plans for a regional Africa office in Johannesburg; preservation of an independent francophone Africa desk in Paris, with full staffing; immediate posting of the job of head of the Africa desk; staffing increase for the English desk journalists working on Africa; a full report on the effects of the decision to bring north African bureaus under the authority of Nicosia rather than Paris;
  • 3/ The unions to be once again given the tools we need to communicate with staff.

The success of the current mobilisation will determine whether we are able to counter management projects for other services. Because the reforms being brought in by AFP management do not follow any long-term strategy. They are simply aimed at cutting corners in the short term: a policy which is already affecting all categories of staff.

Paris, February 11, 2013 - Joint AFP Unions