Publishers WSOY shed 40 jobs: employees stage funeral cortège as form of protest

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Finland’s largest publishing company WSOY is to reduce its staff by 40 individuals. Eighteen of them will be dismissed, 11 will move into retirement, and 11 have already been outsourced earlier. In addition, three persons’ employment is to continue on a part-time basis only.
      The WSOY staff was told of the redundancies on Tuesday. At 4 p.m. a fifty-strong group of employees dressed in funeral black flowed onto Bulevardi. Many of them were in tears and one editor served vodka from a tap container.
      “In our hearts we feel great relief”, said information officer Katri Wanner, one of the workers made redundant.
      Many had felt provoked by the interview of Jacques Eijkens, the Dutch director of the Sanoma Corporation’s Learning & Literature business group, published in the Tuesday issue of Helsingin Sanomat. Sanoma Corporation is the owner of WSOY.
      Eijkens said that in the future book publishing has to focus more on the writer’s persona and brand and that Sanoma would do well even without its book publishing arm.
      “WSOY no longer represents the values that I committed myself to. If there were some lingering doubts prior to the Eijkens interview, after it at the very latest it became clear that literature itself is no longer the determining factor”, said dismissed information officer Kirsi Aho.
     
According to WSOY CEO Anna Baijars, behind the lay-offs lurk economic and production reasons combined with concerns over the period of transition that is shaking up the entire publishing branch.
      “Had we not taken action at this stage, our operation might have become unprofitable in the future”, Baijars explains.
      Prior to WSOY, all the large publishing houses in Finland have already reduced their staff.
      Last year Tammi made 19 people redundant and Gummerus three. In the autumn of 2009, Otava reduced their staff on the graphics side by 25 individuals.
     
The publishing field is undergoing a major shake-up: the internet is encroaching on sales of nonfiction books, small publishing houses add to the competition, and electronic books are just around the corner.
      According to the Union of Journalists in Finland, which also represents book editors, the WSOY co-determination negotiations were a farce. According to the union, there was no willingness to discuss any alternatives to the lay-offs and furthermore the participating negotiators were pressured to remain quiet about the goings-on at the talks.
      Baijars denies such allegations of bullying.
      Chief shop steward Kaarina Lehto, who represents the employees, criticises the cuts as unfounded.
      “They seem to be without a clear direction or objective”, Lehto says.
     
Authors, too, have reacted to the news of the sackings with dismay.
      At least author Mari Mörö is planning to leave WSOY. She says she had reached the decision to ditch the publishing house already earlier in the spring.
      “Perhaps I am not one of those streamlined, dynamic writers that WSOY would then like to circulate from one media arena to the next.”
      Tuula-Liina Varis, a WSOY author and the Chairman of the Union of Finnish Writers, is astonished at Eijkens’s views with regard to the importance of the public image of the author.
      “No wonder authors want to switch their publishers. Large publishing houses make life unbearable for the writers. The more the cold-blooded business mindset gains a foothold with the large publishers, the more eagerly the artistic substance moves over to the smaller players.”
      Author Tuomas Kyrö does not understand all the fuss about the writer’s persona and brand.
      “Juha Seppälä has a faithful readership, even though he rarely makes public appearances. Ilkka Remes also sells well, and he is hardly ever seen anywhere”, Kyrö points out.
      Varis and Kyrö are not planning to switch publishers.
     
WSOY was also recently in the headlines over its decision to part company with one of its most successful authors, Sofi Oksanen, who had roundly criticised the company's management (see earlier articles).
      Both WSOY and Helsingin Sanomat are part of the Sanoma Corporation.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Top boss at publisher WSOY wants authors to be more visible (22.6.2010)
  WSOY expected to drop more personnel next week (17.6.2010)
  WSOY and star author Sofi Oksanen part company (16.6.2010)

See also:
  Directors from publisher WSOY taking authors with them to new company (18.2.2008)

Links:
  WSOY Foreign Rights

Helsingin Sanomat