VRT restructuring plans means 286 fewer jobs

Unions representing staff at the Flemish public broadcaster VRT have vowed to fight the plan to cut 286 full-time jobs, after details of the restructuring of the organisation were leaked. The broadcaster’s goal is to save €25 million by 2020.

“In five years’ time, 286 jobs have to go,” said one union representative. “On top of that, 93 colleagues have to leave to work for external companies. This goes much further than the savings announced and would cause a real social bloodbath.”

Managing director Leo Hellemans said that he is “convinced that this proposal – and it is still at the planning stage – will be good for VRT. If we implement this plan, we will have the stability we need for the coming years.”

The new strategy, he said, is the result of work done in June to produce a view of what needed to be done to cut the budget. The ideas were discussed with the government of Flanders, which asked management to then produce a transition plan. “That’s where we are now,” Hellemans said. “This plan has to be approved by the board, then it would have been discussed with staff and unions.”

The job losses would not all come immediately, he said. The procedure allowed for some 50 jobs to go every year until 2020, in consultation with unions. “We are demanding a reasonable plan that does not reduce the effectiveness of our public broadcaster,” unions said in a joint statement.  “The transition plan in front of us is reprehensible … and must be stopped.”

Unions have promised tough action if the plan is not reviewed. On Tuesday news broadcasts on Radio 2 Antwerp and Flemish Brabant were suspended after news that the station would have to close local offices in Antwerp, Hasselt and Kortrijk under the plan, with no more local input to the morning show.

Photo courtesy Vlaamse Bouwmeester