RTÉ staff face pay cuts as advertising revenue falls

RTÉ STAFF are set to face pay cuts following the announcement by director general Cathal Goan that the broadcaster is facing a €68 million shortfall in advertising revenues for 2009. In a letter to staff yesterday Mr Goan said €10 million in savings must come from “personnel-related” operating costs.

The level of pay cuts has yet to be determined. However, a spokesman for RTÉ said the cuts would be based on the graduated scale of earnings, with the higher paid taking a larger percentage cut.

It had not yet been decided whether high-profile presenters, such as Pat Kenny, Ryan Tubridy and Gerry Ryan, who were asked to take a 10 per cent cut in earnings earlier this year, would be asked to take further cuts, the spokesman said.

“That hasn’t arisen yet. Only if the highest earners were asked to take a cut of more than 10 per cent, then that issue would arise,” he said.

RTÉ last October announced cutbacks of €27 million including a pay freeze, a freeze on all bonuses, the non-replacement of staff and the curtailment of foreign travel. These reductions were already being implemented.

In his letter, Mr Goan said the situation had deteriorated very significantly since then, and the station now needed to take “radical action” to save a further €41 million to cope with the “enormous drop” in advertising revenues.

In addition to pay cuts, the station is considering a reduction of freelance rates, a reduction in overtime rates and no productivity payments for work practice changes.

These steps were absolutely necessary, Mr Goan said, but the burden would be fairly distributed.

“None of the options are pleasant, but we must all work together to deliver the most appropriate actions – and we are still bearing in mind the two key principles,” he said.

These were: “Maintaining RTÉs programming output as much as possible – and therefore our competitive edge” and “protecting employment to the greatest extent possible”.

His letter also said that RTÉ would welcome any other initiatives which staff may wish to suggest and would undertake to consider them fully.

The proposed cuts were put to the RTÉ Trade Union Group on Wednesday.

The group said the proposals presented to it by RTÉ would be the subject of intensive discussions over the next two weeks. In a statement, the union group executive said it made clear to RTÉ that any proposed changes to existing agreements would be handled through the normal industrial relations processes.

Its priority in any discussions would be the protection of jobs in RTÉ, the group said.

It is due to meet RTÉ management again in two weeks’ time, when the levels of cuts are likely to be known.