Employment dispute costing TVNZ nearly $6000 a day a ‘total cluster’, says union

Wednesday, 5 June 2024

TVNZ failed to properly consult with staff before making them redundant. It was a costly mistake.

The Employment Court found TVNZ failed to consult with its staff according to the terms of their collective agreement.

TVNZ now has to go back and involve staff in the process of creating change proposals.

Redundancy costs are expected to be around $2.8 million.

TVNZ is paying out around $5700 a day to staff who have already received redundancy payments as its dispute with the E Tū union rolls on.

Last week, TVNZ failed to appeal an earlier ruling that

it had not properly consulted with staff ahead of a restructure that saw four shows cancelled, including long-running audience favourites Fair Go and Sunday, and nearly 70 positions made redundant.

How did this happen, and what happens next? Here’s what you need to know.

What did TVNZ do wrong, exactly?

It failed to consult with its staff according to the terms of their collective agreement between TVNZ and E Tū, which represents communications professionals in Aotearoa.

Former Sunday presenters and journalists Miriam Kano and Mark Crysel talk to Stuff’s Emily Brookes about the closing down of the TVNZ flagship current affairs programme.

TVNZ’s agreement, explained E Tū’s Michael Wood, is different from many others in that it stipulates the employer must engage its staff in any proposals for change “from the developmental stages of business planning”.

As outlined in the Employment Court’s decision, TVNZ did not consult with its staff until the change proposals had already been written.

“Effectively what the court said is, no, you missed a whole step in the collective agreement,” Wood explained.

So what does it have to do now?

Fair Go and Sunday, hosted respectively by Pippa Wetzell and Miriama Kamo, have been cancelled, with most of their teams made redundant.

Go back to the drawing board.

TVNZ has to wind back and do the part they missed, which is involve staff in the process of creating change proposals, rather than presenting them.

“They have to provide all of the information that will help people to engage in that, and then they have to keep engaging continuously,” said Wood. “And then they have to attempt to come to an agreement with staff to make recommendations to management.”

Hang on - but isn’t the deed already done?

Yes. Fair Go, Sunday, and the midday and late night news bulletins have been cancelled, and Re: News scaled back. 68 people have been made redundant (though five have been redeployed into a new current affairs unit, led by TVNZ chief correspondent John Campbell).

According to E Tū, most of the 63 people that leaves have found new employment elsewhere. 17 remain on TVNZ’s payroll during the employment dispute process, despite the fact their employment has ended and their redundancies been paid out.

“The situation at the moment is that there are people who are still at TVNZ who have been given redundancy notices (which are) not valid because they did not come out of a valid process,” explained Wood.

The Employment Court heard TVNZ chief operating officer Brent McAnulty was not aware of the relevant clause in the collective employment agreement.

Could Sunday and Fair Go come back?

“In theory, there could be a whole lot of different outcomes,” Wood said. Who knows what kind of money-saving ideas TVNZ’s staff might be able to come up with in a full consultation process.

In reality, however, bringing back cancelled shows would be extremely challenging, and it’s not something E Tū is asking for.

What we’re most likely to see as the outcome of the consultation process is a lot of personal grievance claims.

What is all this costing TVNZ?

What was supposed to be a cost-cutting measure to save $10 million in the wake of declining advertising revenue has turned out very expensive for the state-owned broadcaster.

Wood couldn’t share an exact figure on the salary cost but said “while salary costs vary a lot, sources indicate that with 17 staff still employed, the ongoing cost could be around $170,000 per month” - or nearly $5700 per day.

Redundancy costs were around $2.8 million.

“it's not uncommon for people who take a personal grievance case of this type to maybe receive $20,000,” said Wood. Multiply that by 63 and you’ve got a seven-figure sum.

In addition, “they've had to bring on board very expensive legal advice. A King's Council to represent you in the courts doesn't come cheap.”

This is happening against the dire economic situation that prompted TVNZ to take the axe to its workforce in the first place; the broadcaster is now expecting an underlying loss of between $28 million and $33 million in the 2024 financial year.

How did this happen?

The situation was, said Wood, “a total cluster”.

In the Employment Court hearing, TVNZ said it didn’t tell staff about the dire financial situation or the plans to mitigate it earlier because it didn’t want to ruin their Christmases.

But the decision, in summarising the hearing, states that both TVNZ chief operating officer Brent McAnulty and head of news and current affairs Phil O’Sullivan “candidly accepted that they were not” aware of the clause in the collective contract that outlined the broadcaster’s obligation to consult.

“That, you would have to say, is a massive display of ineptness from the organisation,” said Wood. “If they were conducting a major commercial transaction, a $10 million commercial transaction, would they not read the agreement they had with the other party?”

What had started as a mishandling had been compounded by TVNZ refusing to accept its error, Wood went on.

“It started off as a cock-up and increasingly it's then become something new, he said. ”They just being unwilling to come down off the high horse and admit they got it wrong.“

What happens next?

TVNZ has 20 working days to comply with the clause, which takes us to July 1.