Pink slip time
*Layoffs in the media sector have begun. Sakal Times abruptly tells 70
people in Delhi that they are not needed any more.* HOOT, with IANS.
Pix:Abhijit Pawar
Posted Monday, Dec 01 01:04:36, 2008
Initially it was just postponed launches and new ventures put into cold
storage.. Now it is time for media sector layoffs. After a few people were
told to leave a few weeks ago, and notice served to a dozen others
thereafter, *Sakal Times* apparently posted a notice on its Delhi office
door on Sunday morning saying "The editorial work carried out at Delhi is no
longer required to be continued."
*Sakal Times* is published from Pune while the group also runs a popular
Marathi daily, *Sakal*. There were around 70 employees in Delhi, including
editorial staff, who camped at the gate for several hours, angry over the
management's decision to close down the Delhi operation a mere six
months after *Sakal Times* was launched May 7. The employees instantly
constituted an action committee to protest the lock-out.
Asia Pacific Communications Associates (APCA) which had been contracted by
the Sakal Group to start up *Sakal Times* exited the operation at the end of
September. Several editions across the country were on the anvil, but a few
months after the launch of the paper from Pune it became obvious that those
plans would have to be shelved. After APCA exited the editor who came from
Pune to take charge was Dhananjay Sardeshpande.
At the beginning of this year Sakal announced a number of expansion plans.
The global affairs quarterly IGA was launched, the flagship Marathi paper
*Sakal *was relaunched, Cuban designer Mario Garcia was hired for both, and
the launch of a national English paper which would replace ae, going to whom
seems to have become de rigueur for Indian publishers. Scheduled for later
in the year is the launch of a national English paper *Sakal Times,* and two
TV channels, in Marathi and in Hindi. Sakal Times was to replace the group's
two English dailies: *Maharashtra Herald* and *Gomantak Times* in Goa, was
announced.
IGA is also produced for Sakal by APCA. Now there will be a change there
too, with APCA taking over the running and financing of this journal for the
year 2009 while Pawar will remain publisher. At the end of that year the
situation will be reviewed.
Things have not been smooth since the May launch. In October a signed email
from a number of people describing themselves as the Pune Newspaper Readers
Forum was circulated describing in colourful language all manner of goings
on in *Sakal Times'* Delhi office, and complaining about the newspaper going
downhill.
Sakal proprietor Abhijit Pawar (who is Sharad Pawar's nephew) might have
overreached in attempting this huge expansion in a year when rising
newsprint prices spelt bad news and the global down turn began to be felt.
Earlier this year he had said in an interview that the scale of expansion
that was on the cards would need a private equity partner in the short term,
and in the longer term "an IPO partner who can take us to a scale and level
far, far beyond what we can do on our own." Evidently, such financial
support has not been forthcoming. The absence of investors coincided with
the global downturn. Starting up TV channels this year did not help, and
contributed to the group's current dire financial straits.
Though it became clear earlier this month that there was trouble coming, the
staff did not anticipate that they would be dealt with so abruptly. They
issued a statement saying that their anger was not so much about the shut
down but about the way it was done. "Their belongings are inside, they have
no idea about salary and compensation, and of course jobs to look for in an
industry no longer booming. Senior Pune management have switched off their
phones. The lock-out is illegal as they have not followed labour laws. The
journalists have formed an action committee that plans to move court. The
nearly 50 journalists are angry and aghast at such despicable treatment.
This is an insult to journalists all over India who should rise to the
occasion and send their condemnation to Sakal Papers Ltd," the statement
said.
Legally what the paper has done is not sustainable. The law requires that
layoffs be preceded by written notice.
Member of Parliament Supriya Sule is on the board of Sakal Papers Ltd.
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