Editis management accused of 'turning a deaf ear' to concerns as staff walk out over pay

Staff at Editis’ distribution subsidiary, Interforum, have accused management of continuing to "turn a deaf ear" to their pay and conditions demands that triggered industrial action on 30th September.

A timetable for obligatory annual negotiations with unions, beginning on 23rd October was produced in a meeting last week. On the table is a growing list of 30 demands, including minimum pay of 150% of the legal minimum wage and various bonuses.

Isabelle Menil, representative for the union Force Ouvrière, said: “Pay scales at Interforum have always been lower than those at Editis.”

Editis is France’s second largest publishing group. The industrial action involved a walk-out at the Tigery centre south of Paris, and a work-to-rule at the Malesherbes centre, also south of Paris.

Menil added: “This is the first time both centres have protested at the same time. The staff thought that when Daniel Kretinsky arrived, we would at last be able to breathe. But they applauded too quickly. For me, things are much worse than they were when we (Editis) belonged to Vivendi.”

For the moment, management is prepared to discuss raising Interforum salaries of up to €32,000 a year, whereas last year it negotiated on the basis of Vivendi’s ceiling of €55,000, Menil explained.

Interforum claims to distribute some 120 million books a year for Editis and other publishing houses.

Editis was bought by Czech billionaire Kretinsky from Vivendi in 2023. Vivendi, which is controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré and his family, had to shed Editis after taking over Lagardère, since the latter owns market leader Hachette Livre. It was clear European Commission competition authorities would never have allowed the same group to control the two largest French publishers.

The Editis management did not respond to The Bookseller’s email and telephone requests for a reaction to Interforum staff criticisms.