RTÉ unions have 'huge concerns' about broadcaster’s five-year strategy
Numbers It Said New Rté By Aims Has As 20% Strategy, The Staffing Part To Of Cut
RTÉ unions have written to the Oireachtas Media Committee to express their concern at the broadcaster’s new five-year strategy, saying its philosophy is “not consistent with the values of public service broadcasting”.
The RTÉ Trade Union Group held a meeting on Tuesday in the Late Late Show studio in Montrose and heard how staff have deep concerns about the future of the broadcaster as outlined in the New Direction strategy announced last week.
As part of the new strategy, RTÉ has said it aims to cut staffing numbers by 20%. It said this will “reduce headcount by up to 400” at a cost of around €50m. This will include 40 voluntary redundancies by the end of this year.
It will also see the production of flagship programmes such as Fair City and The Late Late Show outsourced and moved off site within the next five years.
Joint chair of the RTÉ Trade Union Group, Emma O’Kelly, said there was a “real sense of disappointment” with the strategy at the union meeting on Tuesday.
“It was a very full meeting,” she said. “Some people brought their children with them because they were on annual leave.
“There is huge concern about the plans for the organisation that are contained in this New Direction document. For people, they felt very certain on what we’re dealing with. And what we’re dealing with is outsourcing.”
Ms O’Kelly said that workers are worried what the plan will mean for jobs and for public service broadcasting if production of key programming is no longer in-house at RTÉ.
She said a decision was made to write to the Oireachtas Media Committee, given its planned engagement with representatives of RTÉ on Tuesday evening.
The letter stated: “We are anxious that the committee should be aware of the strength of feeling among staff. It should be noted that there has been no negotiations on any aspect of the strategy.
“The philosophy under the strategy is not consistent with the values of public service broadcasting and the further development of the commercial production sector should not be at the expense of RTÉ workers.”
The issue comes against the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the future funding model of RTÉ, with a Government decision still not forthcoming.
Last weekend, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he accepted the ball was back in the Government’s court following the publication of the RTÉ strategy but said any future model must not be a “sticking plaster solution”.
"There's no point doing something that makes public service broadcasting sustainable for a few years but find out we're back where we began," he told reporters at the Night and Day festival. The Taoiseach added that the decision should be made by the end of July.