SIPTU has begun balloting its members in RT\u00c9 on whether they have confidence in the broadcaster’s senior leadership team and its implementation of the organisation\u2019s five-year strategy.<\/p>\n
The union, which represents around 600 staff in RT\u00c9, said the move follows extensive discussions and concerns raised by members across the organisation.<\/p>\n
Representatives voted to hold a formal ballot on the leadership and what it describes as the implementation of the ‘New Direction’ strategy.<\/p>\n
The electronic ballot opened last Friday and will run until 18 February at 12 noon.<\/p>\n
In the ballot members are being asked whether they have confidence in the senior leadership team\u2019s strategy and its ability to deliver a fit-for-purpose public service broadcaster for Ireland\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
SIPTU representative in RT\u00c9 Kevin Reynolds said that the broadcaster will be an outsourced, “hollowed out publishing house” under the strategy.<\/p>\n
He said he is confident that the motion of no confidence will pass.<\/p>\n
Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, Mr Reynolds said: “The morale in RT\u00c9 is very, very poor and nobody believes in this.<\/p>\n
“This will eviscerate [RT\u00c9] and it’s not serving the people of Ireland and it’s not serving the citizens of Ireland,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Reynolds said he was appealing to the RTE leadership team “to stand with us, to show courage. They can’t really believe that this offers the best future for RT\u00c9.”<\/p>\n
RT\u00c9\u2019s ‘New Direction’ strategy is the broadcaster\u2019s five-year plan, published in June 2024, aimed at reshaping the organisation following financial, governance and reputational crises.<\/p>\n
The SIPTU Section Committee in RT\u00c9 described the ballot as a “formal, democratic action” to allow members\u2019 collective voice to be heard on an issue it said is critical to the future of public service media.<\/p>\n
It cited widespread frustration among members regarding the implementation of the strategy and its prospects for securing a viable public service model.<\/p>\n
In response, RT\u00c9 said it remains committed to the strategy, which it said is focused on “securing the future of Ireland’s national public service media and giving more to Irish audiences in a much-changed media landscape and with rapidly evolving audience habits.”<\/p>\n
The organisation said the strategy followed extensive consultation and that the majority of staff supported the need for change.<\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 added it remains available to engage with unions on the issues raised.<\/p>\n
Separately, the National Union of Journalists has said it is considering a ballot of “no confidence in the strategy adopted by the leadership team and board,” with a meeting of members due to take place next week to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SIPTU has begun balloting its members in RT\u00c9 on whether they have confidence in the broadcaster’s senior leadership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-280388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}