Redundancy of 250 RTP staff was suggested by board

A voluntary redundancy programme for up to 250 RTP State broadcaster employees was suggested by the company’s Board of Directors, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pedro Duarte said in parliament on Wednesday. (Today)

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs stressed that the programme of voluntary terminations of up to 250 RTP employees was suggested by the company’s Board of Directors, which considers the staffing setup “expensive and maladjusted”.

“This is a measure that was requested by the Board of Directors, which we subscribe to because we were presented with very clear grounds for the need to renew the staff, which is considered by the Board of Directors, and I am quoting, “expensive and maladjusted”, and I agree,” said the minister.

Pedro Duarte spoke at the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Communication, Youth and Sport, as part of a right to reply from the Left Bloc (BE), PCP, PS, Chega and Livre parties on the Action Plan for the Media that has been announced by the Government.

The official stressed that these redundancies are voluntary and, as such, requested by RTP officials. “And it’s because of this that the plan will go forward,” he said.

The minister assured that the government has no intention of interfering with RTP’s staff arrangements and that this voluntary exit plan had “nothing to do with the withdrawal of commercial advertising from the public broadcaster”.