70 job cuts: AFP set to score own goal

Panicked by the latest commercial projections for 2026 and eager to find savings to overcome the shock, AFP management will consult staff representatives on a retirement incentive plan under which the departures won’t be replaced. Management wants to implement this plan immediately without having the slightest idea of how to continue to ensure the agency’s public interest mission with 70 fewer positions.

The least we one can say is that management has not made much progress in its thinking since the sinister video of June 13, in which the CEO announced that we’ll likely need to find savings of 10 to 12 million euros in 2026, nor since the CSE of July 11 where Fabrice Fries unveiled his revolutionary idea of encouraging the agency’s retirees to retire, in addition to freezing future expatriate positions.

After a summer lull that was barely disturbed by the dissemination of new editorial guidelines by the editor-in-chief – without explanation as to how they will be put into practice to deliver the "do less but better" mantra of the Director of Information – staff representatives hoped they would learn more during an extraordinary meeting CSE on September 5. Alas, no. Management said it would offer up to five additional months of salary (for French contract staff) to encourage people to retire but avoided the question of how the workload would be redistributed.

The same story for a discussion held on September 19. Management announced that it will now offer up to seven months’ additional salary to retirees, which could take the payout to a year’s salary. This boost suggests that the initial carrot was not sufficient to achieve the desired 40 departures in France (the remaining 30 departures are being sought among local staff, who are also to get up to seven additional months of salary).

Risk of work overload

But as of mid-September, there had still been no indication from our leaders of a means to avoid degrading the agency’s coverage and ensuring it meets our public interest mission (MIG), even though the departures are expected to be staggered between December 1, 2025, and April 1, 2026.

And what about ensuring that those who remain won’t be overloaded with work? Management failed to answer this crucial question during the Health Commission (CSSCT) meeting held on September 22, where it confirmed the rumor that it was working on eliminating one position in every department and bureau in France... Its affirmation that cuts would not in the end be made in all of them was not in the least reassuring.

And under repeated questions from staff representatives, management had only one answer, which can be summed up as: "As long as we don’t know who wants to retire, we can’t know what we’re going to do." So, full steam ahead, and we’ll see what happens... What a strategy!

And everything indicates that we will not learn much more at the CSE on September 26, where staff representatives are supposed to render a (consultative) vote on the retirement incentives, without however having any details about measures to compensate for the non-replacement of staff, which will undoubtedly profoundly disrupt reporting, editorial and support operations and put all employees under additional strain.

Loss of know-how

What a loss for the Agency as well. The rushed departures ─ some people could leave as soon as December ─ will likely make it impossible to fully ensure the transfer of skills and know-how. We’ll also lose the relations journalists built up with their sources, even though the editor-in-chief expressed the need in the updated editorial guidelines to build solid networks of sources.

When challenged by SUD, management was adamant: it will do everything it can to eliminate 70 positions, no matter what. It plans to launch the plan even though financing has not yet been finalized. After the French government refused to grant an advance on our subsidy, AFP is preparing to borrow more than €2 million from commercial banks.

Faced with management’s haste and the complete lack of clarity on how it will manage the upcoming upheavals, SUD intends to firmly oppose the job cuts. While we understand the desire of colleagues who wish to take the incentive package, we refuse to accept degraded working conditions and sacrifice the health and safety of those who remain. We reject this counterproductive strategy which threatens the agency’s future and its public interest mission.

Paris, September 24, 2025 SUD-AFP (Solidarity-Unity-Democracy)