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Canal Plus: Unions want to see accounts

May 23, 2016

By Chris Forrester

Canal Plus’s worker representatives who sit on the broadcaster’s advisory board have exercised their rights to demand access to the company’s financial records.

News service Agence France Presse (AFP) is reporting that under French law, a company’s management can be fined for obstruction if it fails to promptly answer formal questions from staff.

According to Michel Valleix of staff labour union Libres, Canal Plus directors were sent a set of questions a few days ago and the statutory requirement to respond “in a reasonable timeframe” could be around a fortnight. The procedure comes after Vincent Bollore, chairman of Canal Plus parent company Vivendi, warned that the pay-TV operator was likely to make a large operating loss and risked taking Vivendi down with it unless it threatened to ‘close the tap’.

This is the first time these rights have been used by Canal Plus staff.  Another union (CGT) representative Francis Kandel added that the works council will name an expert with the skills to study the Canal Plus books.

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