Take a pay cut or 200 jobs could go, RTE warns staff
RTE bosses last night urged workers to accept pay cuts to avoid 200 job losses.
The national broadcaster -- attempting to bridge a €68m deficit -- said it will not have to impose the job cuts if workers this week vote to accept pay reductions of up to 12.5pc.
It also denied that it will be forced to close by September if it does not achieve the pay cuts to get savings of €10m.
In a bid to get employees to back its cost-cutting plans, the national broadcaster said they now faced a stark choice of accepting a drop in income or a programme of redundancies.
A document from Corporate HR to staff warned the proposed cuts were "equivalent to the payroll cost of approximately 200 full-time jobs at RTE".
"Successfully achieving these savings is a direct alternative to cutting such a number of posts across the organisation," it said.
Director general Cathal Goan told workers more "radical" action would be needed to address the broadcaster's financial difficulties if the pay cuts were not accepted. The warning came as workers prepare to vote this week on the pay cuts.
But RTE insisted that redundancies are currently not on the cards despite a major drop in advertising revenue .
It said pay cuts are the only cutback on the agenda.
"RTE has no alternative plans to the current proposed initiative nor are any alternatives being discussed or drawn up by station management while the current process is under way," said a spokesperson.
"Reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate and unfounded."
Proposals
Staff are voting on a range of proposals to reduce the payroll by €10m.
They include pay cuts ranging from 5pc on the first €50,000 in earnings, 7.5pc on the next €50,000, 10pc on earnings between €100,000 and €150,000 to 12.5pc on earnings above €250,000.
Workers on less than €25,000 would take no pay cut and no performance-related bonuses will be paid this year.
RTE pointed out that its position was fully agreed with its trade union groups as "the best available to the organisation and staff".
Mr Goan said he was aware that no one was happy to accept a reduction in pay but pointed out that the company faced a deficit of €68m.
He said the wage cuts would save €10m but would have been €34m if they were proportionate to the payroll's percentage of overall costs .
Mr Goan said the executive board plan was "steered" by the belief that RTE's staff would prefer to cut pay than to cut jobs and services.
"The current drain on the organisation's cash cannot be allowed to continue," he said.
"I would not be advocating these proposals if they weren't absolutely necessary or if there were a less painful solution. . .
"Ultimately this is the choice for staff: either we can all share this burden together in a measured fashion, as has been negotiated, or we will face much more difficult and radical decisions."
He said the station was committed to assess its performance and review the pay cuts at the end of 2010.
- Anne-Marie Walsh Industry Correspondent
