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The National Union of Journalists, backed by Publishing Scotland, has launched an online petition protesting at the closure of the Edinburgh office of Chambers Harrap, with the threat of 27 job losses, as it ratchets up the pressure on the French-owned group.
The http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/chambers-in-edinburgh/" target="_blank" title="petition">http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/chambers-in-edinburgh/">petition currently has more than 200 signatures, including Philip Pullman, who writes, "I strongly support this petition".
It follows the announcement made four weeks ago that parent Hachette wanted to fold the two businesses into its French and London arms. The 30-day consultation process has now been extended until tomorrow (21st October), when NUJ representatives will once again meet with senior Hachette staff.
An extraordinary meeting of the Lagardère European Works Council was held in Paris last week to discuss the Edinburgh closure. But Arnaud Nourry, chief executive of Hachette Livre, did not attend this meeting. A statement from the Chambers Harrap workers was read out at the a.g.m a day earlier, which was attended by Arnaud Lagardère, chief executive of the Lagardère group. According to sources the European Works Council is backing the campaign to postpone until next year the closure so an independent financial study can be undertaken of the businesses. The EWC has also asked to be kept informed of the process.
Liam Rodger, NUJ father of Chapel at Chambers Harrap, said a "satisfactory conclusion" had not yet been reached over the consultation process, with no alternative jobs actually offered to any of the 27 Chambers Harrap employees, though he acknowledged that a jobs list had been emailed round.
Hachette UK could not be reached for comment. But last week a spokesperson said: "We are doing everything we can to find alternative jobs within the Hachette group and elsewhere in publishing." Adding that "a thorough independent review of the Chambers Harrap business" had been commissioned prior to the closure announcement.
Rodger was also critical about Hachette UK over the EWC: "Staff at Chambers Harrap have never been informed even of the existence of the Lagardère EWC, or of UK delegates to it. There is no mention of it in the Hachette UK group handbook, and there is no mention of it on the group intranet, which is intended, among other things, to keep group employees informed of company policies and HR issues. The intention is clearly to neuter the effect of the EU legislation in the UK." It is not clear what actual power the EWC has over the consultation process.
Full text of the statement read out at the EWC meeting on 15th October
We are now almost at the end of the 30-day "consultation proces" which is required by law. We have attempted in vain to question the basis of the decision for complete closure, as we believe this to be based in large part on a deeply flawed external review of the company. However, any attempt we make to discuss this wider question has been dismissed, as has our request for an independent review of the business.
It is also evident that Hachette UK has no wish to involve the wider Lagardère group in discussions – indeed we have never even been informed of the existence of UK participation in the Lagardère EWC. It seems like an attempt to prolong the British opt-out from EU legislation on full consultation, long after even the British government itself has given it up!
The closure of Chambers would represent a huge cultural loss to Scotland, and more than one commentator here has called the decision an act of "cultural vandalism". The consequences for the future may be even more significant, as to close Chambers, with its commitment to digital innovation, would be a crippling blow to the future of Scottish publishing as a whole.
We would urge that the drastic decision of complete closure be reviewed, with the benefit of the full range of relevant facts. There is no prospect of such a review taking place within the current context of our consultation with Hachette UK.
At a moment when French publishing and cultural resources are threatened by the domination of US-corporations like Google, and the French language has to resist the powerful forces of Anglo-US linguistic and cultural hegemony, should a decision ultimately approved in Paris obliterate 190 years of publishing tradition in another European capital, without a conscientious study of whether this is really the only practical course of action?