The Executive Council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has expressed grave concern at RTE's proposals to reduce staff by 20% as part of the strategy announced by Director General Kevin Bakhurst this week.
At it's monthly meeting, the Executive Council expressed solidarity with the RTE Group of Union and affiliate unions in their campaign to protect employment at the public service broadcaster. The plan to cut 400 jobs is contained in the strategy document "A New Direction for RTE" which also envisages an increase in the outsourcing of production and cuts in unidentified services.
Owen Reidy, General Secretary noted the strong opposition to the redundancy programme by the TUG and warned that all changes will be subject to agreement with trade unions. He said: "The ICTU does not believe that yet another redundancy programme is the appropriate starting point for a new direction.
The removal of 400 posts and the privatisation of work currently undertaken by RTE staff is an inauspicious beginning of what is supposed to be a new chapter for the organisation. We recognise that the plan makes provision for investment in technology, decentralisation and digital transformation but at the heart of this strategy is the hollowing out of jobs in order to reduce the size of RTE.
The plan is a response to failures of corporate governance by the previous Executive Board combined with the refusal of successive governments to address the issue of adequate funding for public service broadcasting in Ireland. Workers who bear no responsibility for the current crisis should not have to carry the can for these failures. The decline in the TV licence income is a direct consequence of mismanagement and it is simply wrong that our members are being asked to pay the price of that mismanagement. He added: "This strategy document is clearly informed by the necessity to unlock government funds. Congress is concerned that outsourcing is a cornerstone of that policy and will be insisting that appropriate public procurement rules are applied.
The new EU Minimum Wage Directive provides an important framework for collective bargaining and Congress will support affiliate unions in insisting that external commissioning is not used to undermine wages within the media sector.
The government established two expert groups to review RTE. These groups are still reviewing corporate governance and HR issues. It would have been preferable if the new strategy was informed by the reports of these groups.
