The press and publishing group announced in an internal email that it was withdrawing from the controversial takeover project of the Parisian journalism school, and renouncing the hiring of the former collaborator of Pierre-Edouard Stérin. He deplores “a manhunt”.
The victory is total for Bayard employees who brought their management down in just one week of mobilization. The press and publishing group, notably owner of the daily the Crossannounced Monday in an internal email consulted by Liberation that he renounced two decisions rejected by the employees. Who feared an intrusion from the extreme right into this house faithful to a Catholic social line.
First, the controversial participation in the financing of the Higher School of Journalism (ESJ) in Paris will be resold. In this case, the employees criticized Bayard for associating with the ultraconservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré. In fact, the project launched by the entrepreneur Vianney d'Alançon aims, according to a stakeholder in the file, to create a school “non-woke, pro-business and market economy”. The resale of these shares in ESJ Paris “must be confirmed by the Supervisory Board” which will be held on Wednesday, indicates the internal email from Bayard management.
Insufficient defense
Another volcanic issue in the eyes of the group's unions: the announced recruitment of Alban du Rostu, former collaborator of the libertarian billionaire and Catholic identity Pierre-Edouard Stérin, as future director of strategy and development of Bayard. Between 2021 and July 2024, this thirty-year-old directed the Common Good Fund, a philanthropic structure developed by Pierre-Edouard Stérin. Alban du Rostu indicated that he had distanced himself from the billionaire in recent months. But the employees vigorously criticized him for his participation in the Pericles project: according to documents revealed by Humanity On Monday, his name appeared in a document listing the founders of this plan undertaken by Stérin to finance and bring to power an alliance of the liberal right and the extreme right.
The board of directors of the Bayard group, chaired by François Morinière, himself a former collaborator of Pierre-Edouard Stérin as president of the Night of the Common Good, indicates internally that it has suggested to employees that they meet Alban du Rostu, without success. Eventually“aware of the situation created by his appointment, [Alban du Rostu] proposed to renounce his entry into the groupwrites Bayard management in its internal communication. We salute his great sense of responsibility, and mutually agree not to hire him to put an end to the unfair campaign of which he was the victim. We will miss his recognized skills in the areas of development and his great human qualities.” In this internal email, the board of directors, however, states that the position of development director will be filled soon.
“Manhunt”
In front LiberationAlban du Rostu deplored, at the end of last week, finding himself a victim “a manhunt”presenting himself as “a scapegoat” et “a target”while Bayard employees who demonstrated Thursday afternoon brandished signs “From Rostu there is no salvation”, “Rostu in Bayard, the extreme right in power”. “It’s conspiratorial to think that I am sent by Pierre-Edouard Stérin to buy Bayard, which is in any case a company with a non-transferable mission”he asserted. In a column published in the Cross on November 28, François Morinière also emphasized the importance of these “statutory provisions”. The group, which belongs to the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption, is in fact “a company with a mission” : “By a specific provision requested by the Vatican, the congregation declared the work undertaken by Bayard “stable heritage”, which makes it non-transferable. Bayard is not for sale”hammered the boss in the turmoil. Vastly insufficient.
For the Bayard unions, the triumph is therefore total. “It’s a huge Christmas present. We welcome the scale of the mobilization which enabled this victory, indicates Véronique Badets, section head at Pilgrim and CFDT union representative at Bayard. It is the employees, the authors, the readers who have mobilized. It’s a 360-degree victory.” This weekend, 300 authors and illustrators published by Bayard and Milan (a publishing and press house also owned by Bayard) signed a column expressing concern “conservative and reactionary values” who seemed “spread to the direction of the group” : “We support the approach of employees and will not allow our works to be exploited for the benefit of a strategy contrary to our values,” announced this column notably signed by authors like Lewis Trondheim, Susie Morgenstern and Emmanuel Guibert.
In a press release released Monday morning, the group's inter-union association (CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC-CSN, CGT, SNJ) thanks the employees for their mobilization: “A very good victory for a very good fight which underlined the degree of commitment of employees around the core values of Bayard: humanism, solidarity with all, openness towards others, tolerance, dialogue in particular.” “But we must remain suspicious, underlines Bruno Arbesu, CGT union delegate. These two decisions were taken by François Morinière, whose closeness to a very conservative Catholicism is known. We do not yet know what the implicit intentions were behind these decisions. It’s up to us to remain vigilant.”
