By The Special State Prosecutor’s Office has recently launched a preliminary investigation following a criminal complaint filed against Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG) Director Boris Raonić and the management of the national public broadcaster. The complaint was submitted in July last year by the RTCG Employees’ Trade Union, it was announced at an extraordinary press conference held by the union.
Member of the RTCG Employees’ Trade Union Executive Board, Snežana Radusinović, explained that the subject of the complaint is the non-transparent spending of funds on employee bonuses and on fees paid to external collaborators.
“As of today, we can confirm information that €735,000 per year in gross amounts is spent on bonuses, and more than €400,000 on external collaborators. This is an enormous amount of money being spent in a non-transparent manner, which opens significant space for misuse of budget funds,” Radusinović said.
She added that several reliable sources confirmed to them that ten days ago, acting upon the complaint, the Prosecutor’s Office launched a preliminary investigation at RTCG.
“Immediately after that, a new, unprecedented wave of pressure and intimidation of our members followed, and in just ten days, 16 members left the union,” she said.
She stated that on that basis, on Friday, January 29, they again addressed the SDT and the Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović, requesting that the prosecution, within its legal competencies and authorities, urgently take measures to protect them from management pressure.
“All of this is directly connected to negotiations on salary increases at RTCG, which we have been conducting for more than a year,” Radusinović said.
President of the RTCG Employees’ Trade Union, Eva Poleksić, said that at a recent meeting with representatives of the New Trade Union and management at the Ministry of Finance, they were informed that bonuses at the public broadcaster go up to €2,000.
She said that due to such high bonuses for privileged individuals within the public broadcaster, management is in no hurry to increase salaries, while the majority of employees, including media professionals, remain on the minimum wage.
“In addition, not a single euro from last year’s budget of €24.5 million — of which €900,000 was planned for salary increases — was spent for that purpose. All funds intended for salary increases were redirected to other purposes, construction works, public procurement, and so on. Are we facing the same scenario this year, when the RTCG budget amounts to €26,380,000?” she said.
She emphasized that in November last year, after difficult and lengthy negotiations, the RTCG Employees’ Trade Union agreed on new coefficients with representatives of management and the New Trade Union, but that the Ministry of Finance has already issued three negative opinions on them.
Although on December 30 they submitted a proposal of coefficients that integrates the Ministry of Finance guidelines in order to preserve projected salaries, that proposal was not considered at RTCG during January.
“We emphasize that the Ministry of Finance has expressed readiness to provide an opinion on the revised proposal of coefficients as soon as possible. However, colleagues from the New Trade Union and management interpret the Ministry of Finance recommendations in a completely different way, making this an ideal scenario for delaying salary increases, which may last for months,” she said.
She pointed out that in recent days, pressures that the RTCG Employees’ Trade Union has been exposed to for months have culminated.
“This is not only an attack on the legally guaranteed right to union activity, but also on the negotiation process, which — if we follow the Ministry of Finance guidelines — could be completed as early as this week,” she concluded.
The RTCG Employees’ Trade Union also said that yesterday, after they informed the public that they would hold an extraordinary press conference, their Facebook account was blocked.
General Secretary of the Union of Free Trade Unions, Srđa Keković, expressed concern that, in addition to a salary, an individual can receive up to €2,000 per month, without anyone in the state overseeing this.
He stressed that the Criminal Code of Montenegro stipulates that any obstruction or prevention of trade union activity constitutes a criminal offense, punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to one year.
Keković added that today’s press conference is an attempt to expose everything that has been happening in recent months, as well as an attempt to reach out again to members who left the union under pressure.
“And of course, to reach all other employees so that they understand that if they do not have an authentic trade union that is ready to bear the burden of trade union struggle, they will not have better working conditions in the period ahead,” Keković said.
