RTÉ staff agree to hold strike vote

THE threat of a strike affecting RTÉ programmes over the coming months has increased after staff at the station yesterday agreed to ballot for industrial action in a row over pensions.

A meeting of 300 RTÉ employees yesterday unanimously accepted the RTÉ trade union group leaders’ recommendation to hold a ballot for possible strike action unless station bosses address their concerns about discriminatory pension schemes.

The row centres on a 10-year campaign by unions representing RTÉ workers to obtain greater parity on pension rights for staff.

Since 1989, new employees can only join a defined contribution pension scheme, which provides no specific guarantees of income after retirement. Staff are angry they are unable to join an older defined benefit scheme, which guarantees 50% of final year salary for those who have completed 40 years of service. About 1,200 RTÉ employees, including members of SIPTU and the NUJ, who are part of the defined contribution scheme will be balloted for industrial action in the coming weeks, while 600 staff of the defined benefit scheme will hold a separate vote to support their colleagues.

A spokesperson for the RTÉ group of unions Mary Curtin said the decision to ballot for industrial action was a response to the failure of the station’s management to engage in a meaningful way on the pension issue.

Staff have been particularly incensed by the introduction of a third pension scheme, which is confined to about 30 highly paid senior executives in RTÉ.

RTÉ producer Kevin Reynolds told a meeting of the Oireachtas joint committee on communications, energy and natural resources that information about this exclusive scheme had been withheld by management from RTÉ unions.