The Flemish public broadcaster VRT is restructuring its operations. Talks between management and unions have allowed the company to scale down the number of planned redundancies from 116 full-time roles to 67 full-time roles.
Starting 2025 the public broadcaster will have to get by with 25 million euros less a year at a time when costs are rising fast due to inflation and the energy crisis.
Under the initial plans, over three years, over 200 full-time roles were to disappear at VRT. Soap “Thuis” will be produced by a private company. 50 workers leaving the company were not to be replaced and employees working in 116 full-time roles were to be made redundant. Meanwhile thirty new multimedia roles would be filled by newly recruited workers.
In recent months the management engaged in talks with the VRT unions. By counting on more workers leaving the company voluntarily the management now believes it can limit redundancies to the workers in 67 full-time roles.
But the plan also still involves job cuts in VRT’s foreign language output.
The membership of the socialist union has rejected the management’s modified plans, while the Christian and liberal unions still have to decide what to do.
The socialist union ACOD is incandescent about the fact that the VRT management made its final text public ahead of the official union response.
The union says there has not yet been a formal union response to the plans and no formal agreement has been reached. ACOD will join the general strike on 9 November and will consider further action.