A call for a one-hour strike during the day of Thursday, November 28 was launched by the unions of the press and publishing group, owner of “la Croix”, worried about the appointment of Alban du Rostu, previously close of the Catholic identity billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin.
The unions of Bayard, owner of the newspaper the Crosscalled this Wednesday, November 27 to go on a one-hour strike on Thursday, November 28, against a backdrop of fears of seeing “the extreme right” enter this Catholic press and publishing group. The unions (CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC-CSN, CGT, SNJ) contest on the one hand the fact that Bayard is among the buyers of the Ecole supérieure de journalism (ESJ) Paris, alongside billionaires like Bernard Arnault, Rodolphe Saadé or the ultraconservative Vincent Bolloré. On the other hand, they oppose the hiring of Alban du Rostu to the new position of director of strategy and development of the group. The latter is a former collaborator of the conservative Catholic billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin, who failed this year to buy the weekly Marianne.
After a general assembly on Tuesday, November 26, the unions therefore called for a strike from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursday. “Other forms of mobilization will then be offered to you for Thursday, December 5,” they add in an internal leaflet. “We don’t want the extreme right in Bayard,” It is “a visceral refusal”, a union source declared to AFP, pointing out “the journey” by Alban du Rostu. Until his resignation, effective in July, the latter headed the Common Good Fund, a philanthropic organization financed by Pierre-Edouard Stérin. Separately from his businesses, the billionaire has launched a political project called Pericles, which aims to bring together right-wing and far-right forces.
“Trial of intent”
After the revelation of his arrival at Bayard by Liberation et Humanitythe hypothesis that Alban du Rostu participated in the Pericles project worries his opponents. “I am not part of this project,” he however declared to AFP, deploring “a caricature” and a “trial of intent”. Alban du Rostu also assured that he would not have “no editorial or managerial role in newspapers” of the group. According to him, his role will be to work towards the diversification of Bayard, by creating “new centers of activity in fastest growing sectors” as the press, hit by an economic crisis. “I totally recognize myself” In “Bayard’s DNA” marked by a social Catholic sensibility, he insisted.
Contacted by AFP, the new chairman of the group's management board, François Morinière, assured “to understand” the concerns of employees and not being “in a logic of confrontation”. On the ESJ file, he affirmed that his group had been asked by other investors to exercise “a duty of vigilance”, with a very reduced participation in the capital. “If what is done is not consistent with our state of mind or our values, we will leave this adventure,” he assured. Concerning Alban du Rostu“we looked for a framework capable of helping us to push developments within Bayard, whose economic situation is complicated”, he explained. Recruited for “his skills”, Alban du Rostu “denied any link with the Pericles project and therefore we trust him”, added François Morinière.
Bayard is held by the Catholic religious congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption. In addition to the Crosshe owns the weekly the Pilgrim, the monthly Our Time and youth press titles like Apple of Api, Astrapi, Okapi or I like to read (under the Bayard Jeunesse brand), as well as Toboggan, Pass by or 1day1news (under the Milan brand, its subsidiary).
