RTÉ dealing with seven allegations of bullying
RTÉ bosses are currently dealing with seven allegations of bullying.
The bullying and harassment claims were made by staff to RTÉ’s Human Resources department in 2013 and 2014.
The claims come at a bad time for the station, as employees are already set for cutbacks, as RTÉ’s new Director General Dee Forbes recently admitted that advertising was down as they’re now facing up to €20m in losses this year.
The accusations concern “issues relating to behaviour and interaction, complaints about colleagues or managers, and issues/grievances with colleagues or managers” – according to a Freedom of Information response, obtained by the Irish Sun.
“There’s a bit of a bad atmosphere in here lately — the financials are bad, a new director general is in, people are worried,” an insider has said.
As reported by the Irish Sun, RTÉ took 16 months to reply to the Freedom of Information request.
“RTE believes that all staff have a responsibility to treat their colleagues with dignity and respect to ensure the workplace is kept free of harassment and bullying. RTE management is strongly committed to this and RTE strives to maintain a healthy, safe and productive work environment,” RTÉ responded.
Official spokesperson and Head of the National Union of Journalists, Seamus Dooley, has said he’s not surprised by the allegations – especially within the Irish media industry.
“There is a culture of bullying within the Irish media industry, and RTE is no better or any worse.
“Media organisations in general are poor at handling conflict. The fact is people produce under pressure, people operate under deadline,” he added.
UPDATE: When contacted by Breakingnews.ie for comments on the claims, RTÉ had this to say:
"RTÉ takes very seriously its duty of care towards its staff, and to those providing services who are under the control of RTE. This is reflected in the policies that RTÉ has in place such as the RTÉ grievance procedure and the policy on the prevention of harassment, sexual harassment, racism and bullying.
RTÉ believes that all staff have a responsibility to treat their colleagues with dignity and respect to ensure that the workplace is kept free of harassment and bullying. RTÉ management is strongly committed to this and RTÉ strives to maintain a healthy, safe and productive work environment."
This article was supplied to us by Goss.ie.
