Fair Go host Pippa Wetzell and Sunday host Miriama Kamo.
TVNZ’s head of news has today faced heavy questioning in the Employment Court over the way proposed cuts to jobs and shows unfolded and whether the state broadcaster properly consulted with the journalists’ union.
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E tū union has accused the state broadcaster of a “total failure” over the way it implemented staff cuts and ended shows such as Fair Go and Sunday, as part of moves to slash $10 million in costs.
TVNZ is appealing an earlier Employment Relations Authority ruling which found the broadcaster in breach of the company’s collective agreement which, says the union, requires additional consultation with staff before significant proposals are launched and progressed.
As a result of that ERA decision, TVNZ has had to retain 17 staff while the Employment Court hears the case as a matter of urgency.
Representing TVNZ, Paul Wicks KC told the court today that the broadcaster had not breached the collective agreement, citing a programme of work called Te Paerangi throughout 2023, in which staff were canvassed for a range of ideas to stop, start, and continue.
TVNZ “has and continues to engage with staff in line with the collective agreement”, Wicks told Employment Court chief judge Christina Inglis.
In an opening statement for E tū, Simon Mitchell KC said the union’s position was “somewhat different”.
The collective contract – and specifically clause 10.1.1 – created obligations beyond a general order, under employment law, to consult staff. There had been a “total failure” on the part of TVNZ to comply with 10.1.1, Mitchell said.
TVNZ executives had known by November 2023 that they specifically needed to cut $10 million, but this had not been presented to staff.
“What is very clear is that rather than sit down with staff and make that information known … TVNZ at that point went behind closed doors, shut the union out of the process … until staff were advised of the proposals on the 8th of March.”
The court heard today of a dramatic shift in audience habits and a decline in TVNZ revenue, caused by digital disruption and the rise of international streamers.
TVNZ people and culture transformation lead Jo Copeland took the court through the Te Paerangi project, saying it generated more than 2000 ideas from staff, in response to the dramatic changes facing the state broadcaster.
TVNZ argues the Te Paerangi programme helped meet its obligations of consulting staff.
But the union argues Te Paerangi was a general programme and there had been no specific proposal to staff to cut costs.
TVNZ news and current affairs executive editor Phil O’Sullivan told the court that he held regular meetings with all news and current affairs staff – he reeled off almost a dozen he’d held since March 2023 – all of which, he said, raised the revenue and financial challenges facing the broadcaster.
“Personally, I don’t know what else I could have done to make people aware that revenue was falling,” O’Sullivan said.
If they weren’t aware, they weren’t paying attention.
Tasked with finding savings, O’Sullivan said he believed the best proposal was to stop shows, rather than a piecemeal approach. That option would ensure resources remained strong in other areas.
In cross-examination from Mitchell, O’Sullivan was asked about a comment he was reported to have made at a Sunday team meeting in February 2024, when staff asked what they needed to do in light of the financial challenges.
“Nothing. Keep doing what you are doing,” O’Sullivan is reported to have said.
O’Sullivan told the court that it sounded like something he would say, placing it in the context that a final decision on whether to propose closing Sunday had not been made.
He said it would have been “brutal” to have raised that prospect at that staff meeting and he “hoped against hope” that the show might still be saved.
A month later, the formal proposal was presented to staff.
Mitchell questioned O’Sullivan on whether he had placed a “significant” focus on the cost-cutting plans between November last year and March.
O’Sullivan – who said he was unaware of clause 10.1.1 – responded that it depended on how one might define “significant”.
“I am also running a newsroom. It’s a very busy environment…. [but] it was front of mind, it was very important.”
O’Sullivan told the court that with Fair Go, Sunday, Midday and Tonight now finished, and with TVNZ continuing to face revenue challenges it would be “financially crippling” for the shows to return.
There was no work for the people who remained employed, he said.
TVNZ has extended their employment until this Friday, while it awaits the outcome of the Employment Court hearing.
The court hearing today was attended by several senior TVNZ journalists including Fair Go’s Garth Bray and Sunday’s Mark Crysell and Jane Skinner.
The journalists’ union successfully argued to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) this month that TVNZ had botched its restructuring plans – including moves to axe the Fair Go and Sunday shows and midday and late-night news bulletins – by failing to adequately consult with staff in line with their collective contract requirements.
TVNZ was ordered by the ERA to enter mediation, but a meeting between the broadcaster and the E tū union earlier this month failed to resolve the issue and now TVNZ is appealing the authority’s original judgment in the Employment Court.
As a result, 17 staff – all signatories to the union’s collective contract – have been retained as employees until at least this Friday, adding further costs to TVNZ’s budget that the broadcaster would have been banking as savings by now.
Depending on whether the matter is resolved by Friday – and depending on TVNZ’s position – their terms of employment might need to be extended again.
Earlier, E tū negotiation specialist Michael Wood pointed the finger clearly at TVNZ’s executive and its board over what he called a botched process.
He said no agreement had been reached at mediation.
Staff had been seeking recognition for the breach of their collective agreement and an assurance that future proposals would honour that agreement, he said.
They were also seeking assurances over the future of news and current affairs at the state broadcaster “and not to see the village burned down to save the village”.
A TVNZ spokeswoman said last week: “TVNZ didn’t reach an agreement with E tū through the mediation”.
“Parties have an automatic right to appeal the decision of the authority to the Employment Court and that is what we have done. Mediation is without prejudice and confidential and we’re unable to comment further.”
The spokeswoman said the legal proceeding before the Employment Court concerned a specific clause in the collective agreement regarding “TVNZ’s engagement with the union and its members prior to the consultation that commenced on 8 March”.
“Over the past 18 months, we’ve consistently communicated to and engaged with our people and the union about TVNZ’s revenue position and the need to adjust our costs and respond to challenging market conditions. TVNZ’s view is that we have complied with our collective agreement,” she said.
“While these were tough decisions to make, we have to make commercial decisions about the shows we can afford to make. We remain committed to delivering quality, in-depth reporting and current affairs for New Zealand audiences, and what that looks like will continue to change as we shift to a digital-first model.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.