Haaretz staff withhold Thursday edition in dispute over 100 layoffs

Haaretz employees refused to produce Thursday’s paper after their demands for a meeting with management on Wednesday to discuss the worsening labor feud over a planned 100 layoffs were rebuffed.

Instead, the publisher of the left-wing daily, Amos Schocken, issued a bitterly critical letter in which he blamed the staff for failing to face up to the facts and come to terms with the harsh reality of print media.

“In recent years I’ve made a huge effort to ensure Haaretz continues to exist and fulfill its unique role in Israeli society, in addition to being a reasonable place of employment,” wrote Schocken.

“We do not seek to sack anyone, and you know it. (Incidentally, the percentage of layoffs is no higher than the one the New York Times was forced to carry out and kept the quality.) They forced us to. Keeping Haaretz alive requires harsh measures which made no one happy,” he added.

“I regret that after so many discussions of the issue you are yet to internalize the harsh reality in which we operate, which has changed dramatically and requires us to act,” said Schocken. The publisher was presumably referring to the global newspaper crisis, exacerbated in Israel by the introduction of Israel Hayom. A free Hebrew daily financed by right-wing American-Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Israel Hayom has changed the face of the Israeli newspaper industry by offering a free alternative to the major newspapers.

“But if Haaretz is to be closed, then it is better to do it now, rather than dragging it on for a few months, as was the case with Maariv. Whoever can’t grasp this has no business being a journalist,” Schocken concluded.

The dispute at Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, comes on the heels of mass protests by workers at another embattled daily, Maariv, who have protested planned layoffs and budget shortfalls that will leave workers without some benefits. Maariv is in the process of being sold to new owners.

The strike action at Haaretz, which is expected to affect the paper’s Internet site as well, will last one day. Friday’s edition is planned to be printed as usual.

The paper, the smallest and most liberal of Israel’s four major Hebrew-language dailies, has contended with falling revenues for several years, forcing spending cutbacks as well as layoffs.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.