Staff at French newspaper Liberationnarrowly backed a rescue plan today which will refinance the paper in exchange for deep job cuts, trade unions at the paper said.
The plan, approved by the daily newspaper's biggest shareholder Edouard de Rothschild, calls for an end to the staff's right of veto over certain decisions and provides for redundancies. The precise number has not been set but could be as high as 100 of the paper's 280 staff.
Staff at the left-wing paper, founded in 1973 by a group including Jean-Paul Sartre, voted by 137 to 104 in favour of the plan. Fifty staff cast blank ballots. The paper has seen circulation drop to some 140,000 as readers desert the traditional press for freesheets and Web sites.
It expects an operating loss of €13 million this year and is currently operating under creditor protection. On Monday the paper is due to hold a board meeting, the sixth since late September, and Rothschild has already described it as decisive to the paper's future.
Mr Rothschild has proposed investing €6 million in the paper and finding another €10 million from other partners.
