More than 600 SIPTU members in RTÉ will vote in a protective ballot indicating their intent to take industrial action, up to and including strike action, if management at the broadcaster attempts to further outsource any of the station’s core programme productions or other roles.
SIPTU Services Divisional Organiser, Adrian Kane, said: “Our members have rejected a future for RTÉ which would reduce it to little more than a clearinghouse for outside productions. The management plan for the station was unveiled amid a financial crisis not of our members’ making. It is not focused on the future well-being of public service broadcasting.
“A renewed national vision for public service broadcasting must begin with a shift in emphasis towards a long-term public policy framework grounded in democratic, cultural and social needs. The question is not how to reduce RTÉ and TG4 to smaller and more commercially dependent organisations, but how to equip public service media to serve the population effectively in an era defined by fragmentation, distrust, and digital disinformation.”
He added: “The upcoming protective ballot will provide a clear indication of action that SIPTU members are willing to take to safeguard employment and the future of public service broadcasting in Ireland. SIPTU believes in a healthy mix of public and for-profit broadcast production, which complement each other rather than being presented as an either-or approach.”
SIPTU Organiser, Robbie Purfield, said: “Our members have already voted to reject the management’s New Direction strategy, which was less a plan for reform than the end of the national broadcaster as we know it.
“The future of the national broadcaster is more than an industrial relations matter. It is a political matter which feeds into how our nation and its people view themselves. To further the necessary public debate on this issue, SIPTU is engaging with media workers, other stakeholders and progressive political parties to formulate proposals on the future of public service broadcasting in Ireland.”