Organisation: Eurotunnel

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Analysis and commentary by Echo Research.

Imagine the outcry if a well-known company like BA or P&O or Railtrack were to announce it was making nearly one third of its employees redundant. Picture the banner headlines, the union protests, the quotes from embattled management, the PR damage. How different, then, it was last week for Eurotunnel, whose announcement that it was cutting the jobs of 900 employees barely rippled the media pond. Beyond the predictably negative headlines - " 900 jobs to go at debt-laden Eurotunnel" (Guardian, 21/10), " Eurotunnel to axe 900 jobs as price war and debts bite" (Scotsman, 21/10) - was a very fair hearing for management messages that the job cuts were voluntary, necessary to safeguard Eurotunnel's long-term future, and would even " maintain and strengthen (its) position as cross-Channel market leader" (icCheshireOnline, 20/10). Eurotunnel's " enhanced redundancy package" (bbc.co.uk, 20/10) ensured employee grievances were kept at bay.

ThisisMoney was the only one to drag up the bad news from the past, namely that shareholders had never received a dividend, and seen the value of their investment decline remorselessly as the company " staggered from financial crisis to crisis" (21/10). But for journalists inured by bad news from the cross-Channel operator, the job cuts may signal the " light at the end of the tunnel" (The Times, 21/10).