the name change to “Here” about to be suspended?

Scheduled for January 6 at 5 a.m., the modification of France Bleu to “Here” clashes with elected staff members, who are taking legal action to obtain the possibility of assessing the consequences on their working conditions.

L‘official announcement was made with great fanfare during a press conference at the end of November: on January 6 at 5 a.m., the France Bleu network is supposed to change its name to be called “Ici”, like the local branches of France 3 since November 4. Everything seemed to have finally been finalized after years of changing course. Initially announced for the summer of 2022, the modification comes as the rapprochement between the antennas of France Télévisions and those of public radio is already well underway: 37 of the 44 morning shows of France Bleu are today filmed and broadcast on the channel France 3-Here correspondent. In addition, a digital application under the common label already exists. By becoming “Here”, France Bleu “claim what we do loud and clear, a way of saying that this is where it happens”launched the director of the network, Céline Pigalle, on the day of the announcement.

This meant counting without the elected staff representatives. “The teams do not share the joy and enthusiasm of Céline Pigalle”indicated to Telerama one of them last month. On the radio side, many fear that audio will be overwritten by television. More generally, the employees of France Bleu and France 3 are afraid that this name change portends a merger, while the Minister of Culture until today, Rachida Dati, defends the project of a holding company for the public audiovisual. At the beginning of November, when the name of the France 3 Regions network changed to “Ici”, the unions had also launched a call for a staff strike, fearing “lose their identity”.

This Friday morning, things are stuck on the airwaves. The president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, and the director of France Bleu, Céline Pigalle (who did not respond to our requests), received an interim summons to obtain information-consultation on the change of name of the network local “which has and will necessarily have organizational, editorial impacts, and on the working conditions of employees”affirms the text of the CSE of Radio France and France Bleu, that The World was obtained. “Despite repeated requests from elected officials, neither the central CSE nor the France Bleu establishment committee have been informed of this structuring, irreversible and particularly impactful project”they continue in writing. Contacted by us, the elected officials did not wish to speak, pending the hearing.

Management has so far refused any information-consultation (only information without consultation was granted to the central CSE), believing that this was not necessary for a simple change of brand, unrelated to merger fears according to it. . A refusal which, legally, deprives elected officials of the CSEs of the possibility of requesting an expertise in order to assess the consequences on staff. The summary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17 at 11 a.m. before the Paris judicial court, pending the judge’s decision at the end of next week.