RTÉ management says pay cuts will be reviewed

MANAGEMENT at RTÉ has told staff that planned pay cuts will be reviewed by the end of 2010 as they attempt to reach agreement on savings totalling €68 million this year.

The State-owned broadcasting company also said no management bonuses would be paid for either 2008 or 2009.

In a letter urging staff to accept pay cuts in order to get the company through the current difficulty, director general Cathal Goan said no bonuses would be paid “until RTÉ’s financial position has been shown to have improved significantly following assessment by December 31st, 2010”.

The RTÉ Executive Board has said it needs €68 million in savings, €10 million or 14 per cent of which comes from personnel-related costs.

Personnel costs represent an average of 50 per cent of RTÉ’s overall costs.

In addition to suffering a serious decline in its advertising business, the company is also facing new quotas in the Broadcasting Bill for the acquisition of material from independent producers of television and radio programmes.

The station says it is also to be required to pay the costs of the new authority for which the Bill makes provision, in addition to costs associated with the move to digital terrestrial television.

In urging staff to accede to pay cuts, Mr Goan said its review would be strictly adhered to. The highest earners in the organisation would take the highest cuts, while the lowest earners would take none.

The proposed cuts are in the range of 2 per cent to 12.5 per cent.

Management has made financial information on its situation available to the trade union group at the company.

The group has not made any recommendation to staff in relation to a ballot on the issue, although it is understood the negotiating team accepted RTÉ’s assessment of its financial position.

The Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists Séamus Dooley called on the Government to defer some of the regulatory moves which would cause further financial burden on the company.

“I believe the Minister [for Communications Eamon Ryan] has a fetish – and I have used that word before – in relation to the quotas for independently made programmes in television and in radio. He could take another look at that.”

Mr Dooley also said the Minister had placed “impossible deadlines” on the roll-out of digital terrestrial television and added “that might be deferred too”.

In relation to the union vote on the proposals which continues this week, Mr Dooley said the balloting process had just started.

He said there was understandable “fear, concern and apprehension” at the proposed cuts but added that there was also a very strong fear that plan B - if there was a plan B – would involve significant job losses.

There were some newspapers reports yesterday that the broadcaster was facing the prospect of closure by September, if the cuts were not agreed.

During the coming week, Mr Goan is to hold briefings with staff groups in which he proposes to answer individual questions on the plan.