RTÉ staff who are members of the Siptu union have voted overwhelmingly to reject management’s transformation strategy that aimed to restore trust in the broadcaster and ensure its relevance.
The trade union, which represents more than 600 of RTÉ’s 1,750 employees, balloted members asking if they were confident A New Direction, the 2025-2029 strategy for reshaping the organisation, will deliver a fit-for-purpose public service broadcaster for the future.
Siptu’s RTÉ members voted by a margin of 89 per cent to 11 per cent in favour of rejecting what the union described as a “management-driven plan which will deny Ireland the crucial role that a public service broadcaster plays”.
The strategy was unveiled in June 2024 by director general Kevin Bakhurst amid plummeting licence fee revenues and pressure from the Government to cut operating costs.
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The plan is based on the broadcaster’s “core values” and aims to ensure the “future and the relevance of a transformed RTÉ”, said Bakhurst at the time.
Following the workers’ vote on Wednesday, Siptu organiser Adrian Kane said RTÉ management “will have to respect” that, in reaching their decision, employees had the future of public service broadcasting “to the fore”.
“The future of broadcasting will not be served by RTÉ merely becoming a clearing house for independent-sector productions,” he said.
Siptu organiser Robbie Purfield said the union believed its members have provided it with a mandate to seek an open discussion on the future of public broadcasting.
“It is time for management to park its outsourcing agenda, which destroys jobs and the future of this vital public service,” he said.
In a statement, RTÉ noted that Bakhurst has on a number of occasions said he understands that change can be challenging.
“We also believe that the vast majority of staff know that we need to change to survive and prosper; to defend the public service values we all believe in; and to deliver for our audiences in an ever more competitive market,” a spokesman said.
The organisation said it believes the five-year strategy, now in its second year of implementation, offers “the best way forward”.
The spokesman said the strategy was published following extensive consultation with the public, RTÉ staff and a wider group of stakeholders.
“The vast majority of staff supported the need for RTÉ to evolve as outlined in the strategy during this consultation process,” he said, adding that the broadcaster remains available to meet with unions to progress any issues.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it extended solidarity to Siptu colleagues who declared no confidence in the broadcaster’s strategy.
The union said its RTÉ sub-branch would hold a ballot of its members to reaffirm the NUJ’s “opposition to the current policies and the strategic direction of the RTÉ leadership team and board”. A timeline for the ballot has not yet been confirmed.
Around the time of the plan’s publication, Bakhurst told staff production of Fair City and The Late Late Show would move off-site and be either independently produced or made under a hybrid model by an in-house team and external crew.
The RTÉ boss expects the organisation to employ about 1,400 people by 2030, a significant reduction from the 1,853 it employed at the beginning of 2025.
There have been 67 exits via the broadcaster’s voluntary scheme as well as 30 retirements or resignations last year.
Bakhurst hopes to secure Government approval for a second voluntary redundancy scheme this year.
