After serving pink slips to 20 employees last week, the ABP Group plans to sack more employees in the coming days, according to a report published by newslaundry.com.
“Days after firing tens of staffers from its Kolkata and Noida offices on March 6, ABP Group intends to serve pink slips to more employees,” it says. The group has 11 publications, three 24-hour national television news channels, a book publishing house, mobile and Internet properties, with its main office on 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Kolkata.
The report says that the first step was taken on Wednesday, March 6, asking 20 employees – from its Kolkata and Noida offices – to resign. Several editorial (including reporters and desk editors) and non-editorial staff of the group’s Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph were asked to resign with immediate effect. Reporting bureau heads of Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph had been asked to bring down their teams to 10-15. Moreover, the print and online editions of the group’s Bengali tabloid Ebala were both shut down, sacking several employees.
The newslaundry.com report quotes some employees who have said that the sacking last week was not only sudden and shocking, but “ruthless” in which the employees were asked to tender resignation “without any fuss” if they wanted their dues to be “cleared without a hassle.”
According to the report, “The management had issued notifications to the heads of various editorial sections to make a list of employees they wanted retrenched. A list of 150 people to be terminated in the coming weeks was prepared. The first blow was dealt on Wednesday, when the heads were asked to inform the selected employees about their ouster.” The earlier sacking had started in December 2016 with nearly 300 employees.
The report quotes Vice President Shiuli Biswas who said the downsizing is aimed at “restructuring” its units and “cutting costs”.
There are budget deficits and losses amounting to Rs 100 crore, says the report quoting “insiders”. The plan to downsize also has to do with a study conducted by a consultancy firm that had the group had 47.5 per cent surplus workers. Another factor has been attributed to advertisement revenues not coming in as the Trinamool Congress government returned to power in 2016, as there were major clashes between the group and the ruling party in the run-up to the elections.
Arup Sarkar eventually took over from his brother Aveek Sarkar in 2016. Now the new management is headed by Arup Sarkar and his son Atideb. The report also quotes the group CEO DD Purkayastha who said “to revive the company, restructuring the system was crucial and due”.
However, some employees have not found justification in the fact that a group that is now looking to strengthening its digital platforms would also sack so many employees working in these sections.
[The Bengal Story has not worked on the article independently. It is based on the report quoted here.] Cover picture taken from abp.in
