Despite the announcement of the strike, Tg2 and RaiNews24 broadcast regularly with live reports and in-depth analysis of customs. Even Tg1, in the 1.30 pm edition, was broadcast regularly.
On the strike day of Rai journalists called by UsigRai, the public service news programs should have been broadcast in a reduced form. On Tg2 at 1pm, however, all the services were broadcast regularly with even live connections with the correspondents and customary reports on sport, cinema and a summary of today’s episode of Viva Rai2! with Fiorello. The editions of RaiNews24 were also broadcast regularly. At 1.30 pm Tg1 also aired regularly. We learn that no TGR will be broadcast at 2pm instead because the minimum number has not been reached.
During the press conference called by Usigrai, in which the reasons for the mobilization were presented to the foreign press, the risk of a boycott of the strike by Unirai, the newly formed trade union, was feared: “If a minority organizes work to demonstrate that it is possible to go on air anyway, it is demonstrating that the majority is redundant. And when the company asks for collective redundancies, colleagues will know who to turn to.”
The reasons for the strike
During the 1pm Tg2, although it was not broadcast in a reduced form, the reasons for the strike included in the Usigrai press release were still read out:
Rai journalists confirm the state of unrest, Usigrai calls a strike on May 6th
News updates will be reduced due to the strike of Rai journalists. We are striking because in the Rai industrial plan information is the great absentee, the turnover between retired journalists and new hires is blocked by the company which does not announce a public selection for the transparent recruitment of journalists and prefers direct calls to VAT numbers, fueling new precariousness without stabilizing the existing. Furthermore, the tools to enable our daily work are continually being cut, the company performance bonus has been canceled for journalists but in fact it is not equal to that of other workers. We are striking to defend the autonomy and independence of the public radio and television service from pervasive control of information spaces by politics. We will continue to fight to ensure that you, the viewers, have the right to be informed in a balanced, reliable and plural way. We will always be on the side of the citizens to whom Rai belongs.
Macheda: “Editions on air? We will check”
Daniele Macheda, the Usigrai secretary, announced: “We will check if there have been no violations of the right to strike. We will see what product they will be able to produce. If they are satisfied with incomplete or summary newspapers that do not meet journalistic criteria. We will check with the cdr what happens, there is no concern. We know that it is an attempt that the company was making. The important thing is to understand how many colleagues joined the strike.”
