With the Covid-19 crisis hitting the print media hard, Yedioth Ahronoth is to implement major streamlining measures including laying off 150-200 journalists, Sources close to the matter have told "Globes" that the newspaper's workers committee and the Israel Journalists Association are holding a Zoom meeting this evening at which employees will be told about management's plans and options to oppose them.
A message from the worker's committee to employees said, "Yedioth Ahronoth Group's management has informed us that of their intention to make across the board cuts in the workforce in which many of the Group's journalists are expected to be dismissed. Management intends going ahead with firing many dozens of journalists throughout the Group in the coming weeks and for this purpose a number of meet5ings have been fixed for talks with the workers committees and representatives of the Journalists Union."
Yedioth Ahronoth Group has three divisions. The digital division, which was the most profitable before the crisis and where no cuts and layoffs are expected, though some jobs may be merged. Most of the cuts will be in the daily newspaper division and the media division.
Even before the crisis, the print media was losing ground to the Internet and the Covid-19 pandemic has simply hastened the process.
Journalists at Yedioth Ahronoth and its sister financial newspaper Calcalist have a collective agreement protecting them from layoffs until February 2021. It is not clear whether the newspaper intends respecting the agreement but in any event the journalists are only protected for a few more months.
The Journalists Union declined to comment on the report and no response was forthcoming from the office of Yedioth Ahronoth Group CEO Zion Peretz.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 12, 2020
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