Section Agence France-Presse du Syndicat national des journalistes |
SNJ-AFP |
Agence France-Presse Branch of the French National Journalists' Union (SNJ) |
News & Views
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US Guild: After Washington Post debacle, AFP to expand in Getty
Newspaper Guild members in the US are deeply disturbed over AFP’s decision to post another photo editor job within the offices of Getty Images in New York — this is getting AFP deeper into a partnership that cedes control of our photo service. In the wake of the devastating loss of the Washington Post, which failed to renew its AFP photo service through Getty, this is an ill-considered decision. This also comes at a time when the Getty accord could be ruled invalid under the US AFP labor contract with the Guild. Over the past eight months, for example, AFP has allowed a Getty employee to "desk" photos for distribution to AFP offices worldwide, blatantly violating its contract with US employees and its prior assurances to all personnel. The Guild representing US employees had strongly argued that this work can and should be done by the Washington desk (which still has an unfilled post). In fact, AFP management at one time agreed to place this job in Washington, but then reneged on this pledge. AFP seems determined to want to have this within the Getty offices, taking another step toward making the Washington desk irrelevant. We respect the work of the AFP editors within Getty, who work hard just like anyone else. But this is AFP work, and moving this to an office controlled by a third party is another example of losing control of our photo operations. Anyone who is considering applying for this job should know the whole Getty partnership is subject to a legal challenge and is strongly opposed by employees in the US and around the world. The Guild had been in negotiations for several months with AFP to settle our grievance over Getty, in an effort to regain some control of the photo service work and obtain work and job guarantees. AFP made a number of promises during these talks, but then reneged on these pledges at the last minute. So the arbitration case is going forward. However, any employee hired for the job, if it is filled, would be covered by and subject to the terms and conditions of the the contract negotated by WBNG. Feel free to contact the Guild through the Washington offices for more information. US Guild (WBNG) 13 February 2004 |