Reforms and job cuts, The Big Bang isn’t just about expats

The suspense is over: management informed employee representatives on Tuesday about the job cuts and reforms it intends to present to the Works Council on January 23. As feared, the axe has fallen on the newsroom, and not just on the desks. Expatriation is in jeopardy. The entire global network will be disrupted by restructuring into ever-larger hubs. Staff need to voice their opposition to these plans from a management whose only strategy seems to be reducing staff to balance its budget.

Following the retirement incentive plan at the end of 2025, management intends to eliminate 24 positions out of 34 departures in France. We haven’t learned yet how many job cuts will be made among the approximately 12 local status staff who took the package. The largest number of job cuts are among journalists (18 positions), but technical and administrative staff are also affected (6 positions). The French-language news desk will suffer a significant reduction (9 positions). This raises questions about its ability to maintain professional standards and concerns about psycho-social risks.

Those who thought production posts would be spared are in for a surprise: five positions will be frozen, one in each department of the Paris newsroom, except for Politics and the International Service. Some will undoubtedly want to believe that these positions, currently vacant, will one day be filled, but we see that as unlikely. Management is already planning further cost-cutting measures for 2027, and they will then have a convenient excuse that the Agency managed without these positions in 2026.

A remodeled network

These cuts to French-language text production – not to mention the elimination of 3 Data-Visualization positions and two photographer positions in the provinces – contradict management’s stated intention to encourage more on the ground reporting and creating original content.

And what about expatriation: 8 positions frozen, 6 switched to local status, and 5 permanently eliminated. Mobility will be reduced for HQ-status staff, particularly French speakers, and will even become nonexistent for Spanish speakers (4 positions eliminated). Management also unveiled its preliminary proposals for a reform that would see many expat posts lose key benefits. It’s easy to see that expatriation will ultimately be reserved for a small elite.

The job cuts and relocations will likely not stop there: management wants to reshape the global network by consolidating more and more offices under the leadership of "hubs." In Europe, this includes Berlin/Vienna and Rome/Athens. The same approach will be taken in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Management launched an unprecedented communication campaign in early January, combining Q&A sessions with a tour of departments and offices, to get ahead of concerns likely to be provoked by the impending Big Bang. In short, an effort to make people accept what is presented as inevitable.

According to management – ​​which never questions itself – there are no other options but its own. It likes to casually mention that other media outlets have cut jobs, using fear to quell criticism, and tries to make people believe that AFP is modernizing (thanks to our colleague AI) and “reinforcing” …

Faced with this juggernaut, French trade unions launched a mobilization last week focused on expatriation and international mobility. SUD shares this concern, but we find it far too simplistic. For us, the mobilization must be comprehensive and centered on defending jobs. The reduction of short-term contracts and freelance work is the hidden face of management’s cost-cutting plan.

In front of the newsroom, management explained that "choices will have to be made" in 2026 regarding missions and allocating short-term contracts, displaying indifference towards those who have played a critical role in ensuring services function normally and it acknowledges are the talent pipeline for the Agency in France. As a result, several employees have already found themselves out of work.

Some say we should first tackle expatriation, and then we’ll fight for the rest later. No, we have to fight now, otherwise it will be too late. Furthermore, what do we say in the meantime when people question the point of our work as colleagues disappear and management constantly repeats we have to “do less”? That we’ll worry about it later? All of this goes beyond the issue of expatriation alone.

Sacrifices in vain

Management has nothing to offer but job cuts and reorganizations – or rather, “mutualization”. The sole objective is to reduce costs, but without any ideas for developing new products or attracting new customers. After years of success, even the video division saw growth stagnate in 2025. So, what’s the point of making sacrifices when they amount to running to stay in place?

Management knows how to prey up employees’ fears by constantly dramatizing the financial outlook. 2025 will be tough, 2026 will be terrible, and then, no wait, actually 2027 is the biggest concern. Management has a knack for maintaining pressure on staff, but ultimately, all they’re doing is digging the grave of an AFP weakened across all its departments and its network.

If we listen to them, the agency’s future lies in our ability to integrate AI, while the media and citizens are looking for original, reliable, and verified information. Everything that AFP already knows how to do.

SUD refuses to be demoralized by this narrative of perpetual collapse that is being fed to us daily. SUD will not prioritize saving expatriate positions at the expense of other jobs. For us, it’s not every man for himself, but all together.

Now is not the time to negotiate minor improvements to the expatriation reform, but to defend our jobs, our working conditions, and our public service mission that justifies our public funding. We can no longer trust this management to safeguard our future.

Paris, January 21, 2026
SUD-AFP (Solidarity-Unity-Democracy)