Radio France, the country’s main public radio broadcaster, has been paralysed by a strike since March 19 in what is now the longest such action to affect the company in a decade, reports FRANCE 24.
Several of the stations regrouped under Radio France, including national news networks France Inter and France Info, have been severely disrupted by the strike, which comes amid a heavy week in the news and ahead of key local elections in France this weekend.
As the strike continued on Friday, prime minister Manuel Valls called for it to end, urging both sides of the dispute to relaunch negotiations.
“This strike must end. Talks between unions and management need to restart on the right foot,” Valls said in an interview with the country’s Radio Classique and iTele television.
The strike began March 19 and comes amid fears that hundreds of jobs will be cut at Radio France.
The company, which is 90 percent state funded through license fees, is in deep financial trouble after it was forced to adopt a projected 2015 budget deficit of 21.3 million euros in January.
To make matters worse, French investigative weekly Le Canard Enchainé published an article on March 18 revealing that Radio France’s CEO Mathieu Gallet had spent 100,000 euros renovating his office as part of broader, long-term project to revamp the company’s office building in Paris.
Gallet quickly apologised to Radio France’s employees, saying that he should have delayed the renovation, which was approved in 2013 before his arrival at the company. He also said he would fight to ensure that there were no layoffs.
His comments, however, did little to reassure unions organising the strike.
“We don’t trust him anymore,” the SUD labour union said in a statement on Tuesday.