RTÉ cannot afford to reverse pay cuts, staff told

RTÉ STAFF have been told that the company cannot afford to reverse the pay cuts which were made in 2009.

Staff were told at a public meeting yesterday, which was addressed by outgoing RTÉ director general Cathal Goan, that management was looking to extend the cuts because of changes in the last Budget and RTÉ’s commitment to the rollout of digital terrestrial television (DTT) which will cost €70 million.

RTÉ estimates that the recent Budget will cost it €17 million a year. A total of €10 million will go directly to TG4, a further €3 million has been lost because the Government is no longer paying the licence fee of new pensioners, a loss to RTÉ rather than the pensioners themselves, and a further €4 million is being lost in tax and PRSI payments.

In June 2009, staff voted by 57 per cent to 43 per cent to accept pay cuts ranging from 2.6 per cent to 12.5 per cent. The pay cuts were demanded to plug a €67 million hole in RTÉ’s budget as a result of a collapse in advertising revenue.

The agreement between management and the Trade Union Group, which represents unions at RTÉ, was reviewed, as was set out in the agreement, at the end of last year.

The financial position of RTÉ was outlined to staff yesterday by independent financial adviser Eugene McMahon from Mazars.

RTÉ senior communications manager Rory Coveney said: “We are simply not in a position to pay. RTÉ management will be entering into negotiations with the Trade Union Group about the challenges facing us in 2011.

“We face a difficult year ahead like everybody else, but the recent budgetary changes and our commitment to the rollout of DTT means we also have those two issues to deal with.”

Management at the meeting also proposed to stop paying increments to staff. They were stopped for a year as part of the agreement entered into in 2009, but restored last year.

One staff member, who did not want to be named, said the announcement was “profoundly depressing but hardly surprising” and the loss of increments would affect younger staff disproportionately.

Séamus Dooley of the National Union of Journalists said the Trade Union Group would be seeking a mandate from staff to negotiate with management.