In crisis, Portuguese media has delayed salaries and strike

José Paulo Fafe fired last Wednesday (January 31, 2024) from the position of president of the executive committee of one of the largest media groups present in Portugal, the GMG (Global Media Group). This is one of the newest developments in the turmoil the company is experiencing, which includes salary delays, journalists' strikes and the threat of mass dismissals.

The financial crisis has been dragging on at least since September, when radio employees TSFwhich belongs to the group, went on a 24-hour strike because of late wages. At the beginning of December, Fafe said that the company planned to fire “150 to 200 workers in different areas and brands”. The group has around 530 employees, according to management.

The GMG holds important press vehicles in the European country, such as Newspaper, News Diary, The game, Live Money and the radio TSF, between others. It is also behind Eastern Azoreanthe oldest newspaper in circulation in Portugal.

On January 10, journalists from the group halted their activities for 1 day. They accused the non-receipt of the salary for December and the Christmas allowance for 2023 (the equivalent of the Brazilian 13th salary). ​​The strike caused the group's titles, such as Newspaper, News Diary It is The gamewere not published on January 11th.

The Union of Journalists of Portugal joined the act and recommended that its members stop working for an hour in solidarity with GMG journalists.

“Job insecurity, along with the low salaries practiced in the sector, represents a serious obstacle to the development of the profession and constitutes an obstacle to the very right of citizens to be informed freely: a journalist who cannot pay his bills or have a minimum income Job stability is more exposed to pressure from less scrupulous administrations and power in general. This seriously harms freedom of the press, one of the most determining pillars of our democracy,” the union said.

Joined to the union's initiative, journalists from vehicles such as the newspaper Publicthe news agency Lusathe broadcasters SIC It is RTPthe radio Antenna 1the newspaper Express and the websites Vision It is Observer.

GMG workers returned to work the next day, but protests continued. On the 19th, they set a deadline, until January 31st, for the holding of media to pay outstanding salaries. Otherwise, the strike would resume indefinitely.

The group started payments on January 25th. The journalists received their December salary, but the 2023 Christmas subsidy remains in arrears. According to the Journalists' Union, the interest relating to the postponement was also not paid, nor were the November salaries of external collaborators, which should have been paid by January 10th.

With the start of payment, workers gave up the strike for an indefinite period, but are still considering occasional strikes. There was an event scheduled for Friday (2.Feb), when workers at the News Diary they would stop working all day. On Thursday (1st.Feb), they decided suspend the new strike and, if the situation is not regularized, the strike must be organized on February 7th.

In a press release, the Journalists Union informed that this is the “deadline considered acceptable for the full regularization of the missing funds and for GMG to define the future of the title, after the resignation of the CEO”.

At the same time, the association representing the workers is organizing a collective legal action. “As it is not anticipated that the payment will occur soon, the legal department of the Journalists Union is gathering data from the approximately 100 journalists who, so far, have shown a willingness to take action against the Global Media Group to demand the payment of this subsidy. with interest due”, declared the union.

The agency said that the payment of December salaries “does not absolve the administration of the damages caused to workers” from the group. “Several workers had to resort to a solidarity fund to survive this ordeal, which caused moral, property and even psychological damage.,” the union stated.

On Monday (29 January), the Journalists Union filed filed a complaint against GMG for workplace harassment with the ACT (Working Conditions Authority). In a statement sent to the Portuguese press, the union said that “actions and pressures” from the group’s current executive committee “created a climate of intimidation for workers and their representativess”. The group already face 7 “administrative offense proceedings” for non-compliance with workers' wages.

GMG has a general meeting scheduled for February 19th to discuss possible solutions for its future.

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SHAREHOLDERS

In an attempt to alleviate the financial crisis, in recent years, the Global Media Group sold the headquarters of its newspapers, carried out mass layoffs and changed its shareholders several times. This last point is in the sights of protesters, who say there is a lack of transparency.

One of the doubts is about the investors behind WOF (World Opportunity Fund), managed by French businessman Clément Ducasse. The Bahamas-based fund paid, in September, €7 million for 51% of the company Páginas Civilizados, direct owner of GMG. With the transaction, WOF received a 25.628% shareholding and voting rights in the media group.

According to ERC (Regulatory Entity for Portuguese Social Communication), Global Media is directly owned by Páginas Civilizados (41.51%); by the investment company KNJ, from Macau (29.35%); by Portuguese businessman José Pedro Soeiro (20.40%); and by Grandes Notícias, a Portuguese radio company (8.74%).

PORTUGUESE MARKET

GMG companies are among the audience leaders in Portugal. Second ranking netAudiencefrom Marktest (specialist in market research), the website of Newspaper It was the 3rd most read in the country in December last year. It had a reach of around 2.5 million users, which represents 29.3% of the Portuguese public. It was second only to the broadcasters' pages TVI (35.6%) and SIC (33.5%).

News Diary (21.7%), The game (15.20%) and TSF (12.40%) appear in the top 20 most accessed news sites in the country, in 9th, 12th and 14th place, respectively.

Among the printouts, as APC data (Portuguese Association for Circulation and Circulation Control), the Newspaper it was the 4th best seller in the last quarter of 2023, with 4,337 copies sold.

It was behind the weekly Express (26.144), from Public (13,080) and the Business Journal (6,457). O Game (2,559) occupied the 6th position, being the best-selling sports newspaper in Portugal, and the News Diary (1,062), 10th place.

Among radio stations, the TSF reached 3.2% of the share audience in Portugal, with a weekly reach of 8.5% in December 2023, the survey showed Bareme Radiofrom Marktest.

Ahead in the period were the Bauer Media Audio Portugal Group stations (Commercial Radio, M80, City FM, Smooth FM It is Beat FM), with 41.3% of the market and 55% of weekly reach; the Renascença Multimédia Group (RFM, Renaissance It is Mega Hits), with 29.8% of the audience and 51.8% of weekly reach; and RTP Group stations (Antenna 1, two It is 3), which obtained 7% of the audience and a weekly reach of 15%.