Eleftherotypia

850 jobs
Number of planned job losses

Announcement Date

30 December 2011

Employment effect (start)

1 August 2011

Foreseen end date

31 March 2012

Description

Eleftherotypia, Greece's second most widely distributed paper, filed for Bankruptcy and as such its 850 employees are at immediate danger of losing their job.

Eleftherotypia, with 30,000 copies sold per day and 85,000 on Sundays, lodged, on December 30th, 2011, a file with Athens's bankruptcy court, which means that the paper faces two options: either draw up a restructuring plan acceptable to its creditors and await the appearance of an investor to fund a restart of publication, or Eleftherotypia closes down. As such its 850 employees are about to lose their jobs. According to reports, due to its financial problems -debts of 50 million euros- the publisher has not paid any wage to its employees since mid-August.

According to an employees statement "The newspaper which plays a leading role in challenging the country's political and financial establishment, has left its workers unpaid since August". "Eleftherotypia has survived since August, thanks to the dedication of its employees who continued to work conscientiously producing the newspaper, valuing the relationship with readers."

A preliminary agreement was reached in September between the publisher and Alpha Bank. However, in October the bank withdrew the loan.

Striking employees stopped updating the newspaper's website early on Dec. 22.

Eleftherotypia was the first new newspaper to appear in Greece after the fall of the Colonels' regime on July 21, 1975. It was taken over a few months after its founding as a cooperative by publisher Tegopoulos and in November of the same year it appeared on the stands with the weekly insert Sunday Eleftherotypia, the first Sunday supplement to be issued with a Greek evening paper. It changed format in January 1983, becoming a tabloid.

Sources

• 30 December 2011: Imerisia
• 20 December 2011: Eleftherotypia
• 30 December 2011: To Vima