RTÉ's top earners to face large pay cuts

RTÉ’s BEST-paid stars will see “significant” reductions in their pay over and above their promise to give back 10 per cent of their salaries, RTÉ staff were told yesterday.

Some 500 members of staff, mostly members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Siptu, met in the Radio Centre to discuss €10 million cuts in pay sought by management as part of its plans to close a projected €68 million deficit this year.

The cuts would range from 5 per cent for the first €50,000 earned by employees; a further 7.5 per cent for earnings between €50,000 and €100,000; 10 per cent between €100,000 and €150,000; 12.5 per cent between €150,000 and €250,000; and 17.5 per cent for the highest earning employees at RTÉ.

RTÉ management told the Trade Union Group that the salaries of some of RTÉ’s highest stars will be reduced when they come up for renewal and that the salaries of all independent contractors at the station are being reviewed to achieve “significant savings”.

Currently, RTÉ pays €11.9 million to 243 contractors, but 30 of those contractors, who are mostly high-paid presenters, earn more than €100,000 a year. Nearly all of RTÉ’s top paid presenters including Pat Kenny, Gerry Ryan and Ryan Tubridy are sole traders.

The assurance was contained in a presentation to staff by the NUJ Irish secretary Séamus Dooley. Figures presented by an independent assessor for the Trade Union Group confirmed RTÉ’s financial position was as bad as management had claimed with revenue expected to be down 15 per cent this year.

Staff at the meeting claimed there was not enough transparency about the pay and bonuses for senior management.