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UNI MEI strongly condemns the recent attempts to restructure employment at the Polish public television TVP S.A. The management of TVP decided last year to outsource some 550 workers amongst its permanent staff. The main professional categories targeted are journalists, editors, graphic designers and make-up-artists.

Following a call for tender, TVP selected at the beginning of this year a Polish temporary work agency which has no experience in the media sector. The objective of the contract to be signed between TVP and the temporary work agency is to “make available” to TVP its present core broadcasting professional employees as outsourced temporary staff for a limited period of time of one year or more. Despite the opposition expressed by unions and staff at TVP, the management decided to implement its outsourcing plan.

To select the staff to be outsourced, the management of TVP imposed on all members of the staff belonging to the targeted professional categories a so called “evaluation test”. Workers had to pass the test before ad hoc created “evaluation teams”, often composed of persons without the necessary qualification and professional experience related to the work to be evaluated.

Those workers who agreed to undertake the test and succeeded to pass it, received only a vague confirmation from the management of TVP that their permanent employment contract with TVP “may be maintained” and that they may be employed later as “coordinator” of sub-contracted work and outsourced employees. However, nor the internal rules and regulations of TVP, nor the organisational structure of TVP provide for a coordinator position or function. Those who did not succeed the test were notified that they would belong to the group of staff that will be outsourced. No form of appeal was provided to workers to contest this illegal and humiliating procedure and the arbitrary results. Most strikingly, no evaluation criteria were communicated to the permanent workers belonging to the four targeted professional groups.

The outsourcing project and the evaluation procedure have been strongly criticised by Polish trade unions, and in particular the Trade Union of Workers of Creative and Technical Media at TVP – Wizja, as jeopardising the public service statutory mission of TVP and contrary to European and Polish labour and media law.

UNI MEI and its affiliates, representing more than 20 million creative and technical workers of cultural institutions, entertainment, arts, and artists, strongly support Wizja and firmly condemn the outsourcing project of the management of TVP as a disguised operation aiming at the collective dismissal of TVP workers. The outsourcing project and the related procedure are contrary to the requirements of European and Polish law in terms of consultation and information of workers, social dialogue, and the statutory rights of trade unions. Highly skilled core creative staff are the most valuable asset of human capital of a public media service broadcaster. Their legal protection of must be strongly safeguarded, due to the important public service mission of public broadcasters, which is key for democratic societies. UNI MEI and its affiliates fully support the requests made by Wizja and call upon TVP and the Polish government:

- to abandon the project of outsourcing Polish workers at TVP and revoke the evaluation of the staff of TVP carried out so far;

- to abandon any plans aiming at the collective dismissal of TVP workers and resulting in increased employment precariousness of TVP workers;

- to ensure Polish trade unions and workers at TVP are fully informed and consulted prior to any restructuring, group dismissal, outplacement or outsourcing plans of TVP management in accordance with applicable EU rules and Polish law;

- to ensure TVP fully respects Polish labour law and stops promoting bogus transfer of undertaking, bogus temporary work and bogus self-employment, and the unjustified use of civil law contracts instead of permanent employment contracts;

- to guarantee a genuine social dialogue between the management of TVP and trade unions;

- to ensure TVP can fully play its role as public service broadcaster in accordance with European standards. This implies to guarantee TVP is properly funded while safeguarding its independence from government and other vested interests.