Is a stealth redundancy plan for CDDs underway?

In February 2026, a group of fixed-term employees (CDDs) published an open letter concerning the growing job insecurity they have faced since AFP’s CEO announced a cost-cutting plan. They described their deep dedication to the Agency – an unwavering commitment that consistently prioritized work over personal comfort, driven by the belief that their efforts would eventually be rewarded. But nothing was done and their situation has become even more clouded: SUD has learned of a meeting this month for the France region during which department heads were instructed not to request a single fixed-term contract this autumn. Is this the knockout blow for fixed-term contract employees, some of whom have dedicated over five years of hard work to AFP?

Since last year AFP’s management has relentlessly dealt blows to employees who were already struggling: greater use of "écostats" (not replacing staff absent due to sick leave, vacation, or between posts), mobility reforms, and a “pôle réactivité” or responsiveness unit designed to prioritize using deskers for replacements and reinforcement missions (see our tract on this reform) But that won’t generate enough savings, so the management of the France region has told department heads to do without CDDs from September through December 2026. It is unclear what the situation will be for CDDs working for other regions.

Sacrifices for AI and neighboring rights?

For SUD, it is nothing short of outrageous that management it is closing the door to new journalists as it contemplates borrowing millions to invest in AI to feed machines with snippets of information. AFP’s future does not reside in data centers: it lies in the men and women who will shape the journalism of tomorrow. This indignation is not limited to trade unions: many departments that have long relied on these fixed-term staff are watching their colleagues in deep distress, yet remain powerless to help. And that is not even taking into account the difficulties their departure will cause: grueling days during an election year, denied and/or forced leave, and workloads so heavy that employees might not even dare take sick leave. All of this points to serious additional psychosocial risks – just when Human Resources is pretending to care about such issues!

Why this stealth redundancy plan now? In his email to all staff on July 7, Fabrice Fries announced that the Agency’s revenues were likely to come in on target this year. So we’re not facing a revenue shortfall, whether from platforms cutting us off or media clients dropping their contracts. Instead Fries said there were “new costs that were unforeseen during the budgeting process (the payout of neighboring rights to journalists which are currently under negotiation and likely to far exceed the budgeted amount and a new AI initiative focused on data structuring) place us at risk of a negative margin of €500k to €1,000k by year-end.” So even before we borrow millions to deploy AI we are sacrificing people to the machines. Moreover, it is impossible to say that increased neighboring rights payments were unforeseen when AFP had already received money for a period not covered by our previous agreement. It was a choice (irresponsible in our view) not to budget any payments for this period.

A loss for the Agency and increased RPS risks

The first victims of our CEO’s choice targets the Agency’s most vulnerable staff. Yet, sending fixed-term contract workers back to the unemployment rolls actually represents a massive loss: how much time have we collectively invested in training them? Who will replace those who leave? Will the algorithms generate the original content constantly championed by the news director? Today, that added value remains safely in AFP’s coffers rather than reaching those who create it; the director general has warned unions that "excessive" demands regarding neighboring rights would force the Agency to implement a redundancy plan. But sacrificing neighboring rights wouldn’t save anyone for long. Within months would have another reason to cut costs.

SUD once again calls for emergency measures to ensure that the bonds forged with our colleagues are not abruptly severed by short-term cost-cutting. We believe that the CSE should launch an economic alert to force management to adequately explain the financial situation. Otherwise the AFP party scheduled for September risks becoming a wake.

Paris, July 23, 2026

SUD-AFP (Solidarity-Unity-Democracy)