RNZ seeks voluntary redundancies, following $18m budget
RNZ is seeking voluntary redundancies, just a month after it was told its budget would be slashed by almost $5 million a year for the next four years.
It is understood to be the first time in RNZ’s history – the public broadcaster is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year – that it has sought voluntary redundancies.
Denying the Taxpayers’ Union of any credibility by platforming them is at least one good reason to keep RNZ!
Now do the same to the NZ Initiative.
TDB decided to look at the RNZ list of jobs and how many they have to see where savings could be made for our Public Broadcaster.
Position Name: Puppet Wardrobe
Number of full time employees: 7
What the Wellington Unions say: “How can we understand the full narrative of Aotearoa’s rich tapestry of self truth telling if all the Puppets are white and heteronormative?”
What Jordan Williams and Taxpayers’ Union say: “The Puppets aren’t critical enough of beneficiaries”.
TDB says: “Why do they have puppets, it’s a radio station, they can’t see the Puppets nor what they are wearing. How long has this budget existed”?
Position Name: Holding up Colin Peacock’s self importance
Number of full time employees: 57
What the Wellington Unions say: “Colin Peacock needs to heavily criticise the rest of the MSM without ever applying that same level of critical analysis to RNZ’s coverage of Israel’s genocide or their bullshit hit job on Michael Hall. He can’t do all that heavy lifting on his own!”
What Jordan Williams and Taxpayers’ Union say: “If they employed men instead of DEI appointments, he’d be able to hold this up with just 30 staff”
TDB says: “Look, to be honest the audacity is so huge I fear this is one area where RNZ should be spending way more, we need at least 100 staff to hold up Colin’s double standards here”.
Position Name: Sign language interpreters
Number of full time employees: 13
What the Wellington Unions say: “Deaf people deserve to know how evil redneck Cracker is!”
What Jordan Williams and Taxpayers’ Union say: “I’m not responsible for your disability. I’m not paying for your hearing. What’s next? Paying for your legs? Get lost cripple, own your own problem”.
TDB says: “They understand it’s a radio station right, there’s no visual element here. How long has this budget existed?
Position Name: Morning Report Producers
Number of full time employees: 247
What the Wellington Unions say: “Morning Report are under funded and under staffed, we demand the Government immediately hires every single 18 year old with 500 social media followers in the wider Wellington City limits and every Wellington woman over 45 with 3 cats as producers to ensure Morning Report remains relevant to Seatoun, Khandallah and Te Aro.
What Jordan Williams and Taxpayers’ Union say: “Morning Report are stealing 247 producers who could be working for Taxpayers’ Union and Federated Farmers as industry pimps.”
TDB says: “I don’t listen to Morning Report”.
Position Name: 19th Century dramatists exploring coming of age homosexual awakenings in Colonial New Zealand
Number of full time employees: 37
What the Wellington Unions say: “This homophobic Government is robbing us of our stories! Wretched stories of how awful Cracker be and how brave homosexual leaders of courage stood against those Crackers in the dreary 19th Century where the very cardboard of boredom is chewed endlessly as if it’s culturally relevant. This and 18th Century asexual sea shanties are core RNZ broadcasting!”
What Jordan Williams and Taxpayers’ Union say: “This is something that the free market should be doing, why aren’t 19th Century dramatists exploring coming of age homosexual awakenings in Colonial New Zealand on ZM or The Edge instead of relying on the taxpayer to fund it. The Market serves all! Hail Milton Friedman!” (followed by a ‘Roman Salute’)
TDB says: “How are there 37 of them?”
Position Name: Spinoff liaison editors
Number of full time employees: 782 Millennials
What the Wellington Unions say: “Working with the Spinoff on the important social issues of today keeps 782 Millennials paying their mortgage payments. Cuts here could destroy the property markets of Kingsland in Auckland.”
What Jordan Williams and Taxpayers’ Union say: “In the eleven years of the Taxpayer’s Union, we’ve never been invited onto The Spinoff. Three Waters, Tax, Budgets, Spending, Debt, local government, screwing over poor people, Ag Industry dark money, Atlas Network influence, astroturf spin and Troll Bot armies that can attack enemies and screw the ruck on public debate. Not even once.
TDB says: “Wait, HOW MANY STAFF?”
Position Name: Emotional Support Pet Handlers
Number of full time employees: 27
What the Wellington Unions say: “This Government hates pets. It wants to torture Mittens, Missy and Miffy! They want to grill your puppies and anyone who does anything other than praise emotional support pet handlers is a right proper Brooke van Velden.”
What Jordan Williams and Taxpayers’ Union say: “We love Chris Bishop’s dog and appreciate owning a pet and self promoting ourselves on Social Media with our puppies makes us appear slightly less psychotic and lifts our manipulation game. We have no position on Emotional Support Pet Handlers, other than to say they could do the same job with just 25 instead of 27”.
TDB says: “Hold on, did that say Morning Report has 247 producers???
Gordon Campbell on RNZ’s banning of Bomber Bradbury
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The day the Taxpayers Union demands the removal of tax from food could be the day Kiwis are duped into believing it’s a taxpayers’ union.
Wish I certain this was satire.
It’s not.
Williams and his TPU have got it wrong – yet again!
It’s not the ‘first time’ in RNZ’s history that there has been a call for voluntary – and non-voluntary – redundancies.
Either 1989 or 1990 there was ‘Project Aurora’, one of the many results of Rogernomics, which resulted in scores, maybe even hundreds of redundancies made from RNZ, and departmental budgets were considerably reduced.
No doubt there was some ‘fat’ in budgets in those days but it It was a credit to the professionalism of the remaining management and staff that non-commercial networks rose to the challenge and proved – and continue to prove – their value and worth when the second wave of Rpgernomics hit RNZ and the commercial stations were sold off (now NZME). RNZ National and Concert are mostly all that remain.
Just leave them alone Goldie, to get on with providing their very discerning audiences with what they want to hear. They serve them very well!
/agreed !
People seem to expect the media they “consume” (ew!) should be in agreement with their world view, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
However, the people that actually produce content work in spite of their overlord managerial class rather than because of them.
Personally I don’t expect to like all and everything I hear on RNZ. There are definitely aspects I don’t like about RNZ but we’ll all be poorer without it.
It’s way past time Thompson and his boyfriend moved on. THey seem to think public radio and media should be just like commercial – without the ads. And they continue to preserve the managerial class hangers on at the expense of content producers. Actually if you put them on garden leave, then gave them the heave ho, nobody would notice.
PSB in lil ‘ole NuZull that punches above its weight is incredibly over-managed – often by absolute fuckwits.
Which jobs should go? All of them.
Martyn – RNZ has 12 producers…most commercial stations have 3…why are NZers paying for the Concert program? Who decided that? Why does RNZ need 300+ employees? Get rid of RNZ.
The first jobs to go should be the PM and his COCTS
I’m fond of Jesse in the afternoons these days and found myself having a fond moment about Kathryn Ryan in the morning recently. Despite her being the right-wing answer to Kim Hill. So, the signpost of the capture of RNZ by the rich-rulers.
I like Paddy Gower’s temping.
I welcomed the new Checkpoint host, since it had been done so badly for a long while, but I now see she goes light stories, initially at least. Sure; well, sure, National Radio is comforting the comfortable.
There is no comfort during climate change but there is no electorate for dealing with it. We short-term buggers will march over the cliff like Disney’s mythic gophers, or whatever.
I like it. Our blind spot.
Given that everyone’s an expert on media these days (having done their ‘research’), It’s interesting you’re having a go at Colin Peacock – IF you are.
You should be careful what you wish for.
As always though, it seems the managerial class in all institutions seem to survive. At least so far whilst (in this case), the content producers are up for the chop. It can’t last.
Time for Thompson to move on for a start. With him he could take his BFF/maybe fuck buddy with him.
It’s all becoming a bit pathetic.
Again! Careful what you wish for or you might end up being sponsored by Tina from Turners