RNW management and unions sign redundancy package

Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) and the three unions representing the employees of RNW signed an agreement for the redundancy package that will apply during the reorganisation of RNW to take place this year.

The Dutch government has reduced RNW’s budget by more than 70 percent from 46 million to 14 million euros a year as from 1 January 2013. RNW will in future focus exclusively on providing reliable and independent information to people in countries without a free press.

The redundancy package has been designed to maximize the opportunities for employees to find new jobs. “We are now organizing a lot of courses and training designed to widen the perspective of employees,” says Director General Jan Hoek. “We have also taken into account the fact that our workforce includes people of more than thirty nationalities. So part of the plan is aimed at helping with repatriation, for those people who want to return to their country of origin.”

RNW is currently working intensively on transforming itself into a new organization focusing on free speech. The station is finalising a list of the most important target areas and groups, and determining what type of content has the most added value. It is expected that a detailed plan for the new RNW will be ready in the second quarter of 2012, to be followed in the summer by the reorganization.