RTÉ staff are set to receive a 6% pay increase between May 2025 and December 2027, following agreement on a new pay deal reached between RTÉ management and the RTÉ Trade Union Group (TUG).
The proposals, negotiated under the auspices of RTÉ’s internal Industrial Relations Tribunal (IRT), will now go to a ballot of union members, with the TUG recommending acceptance. The agreement stems from a pay claim lodged by the TUG in October 2024, which sought a flat rate increase of €1,500 plus 6%.
As reported by RTÉ, under the terms of the deal, employees will receive phased pay rises: 1.5% increases will be paid on May 1st 2025, May 1st 2026, October 1st 2026, and October 1st 2027. In addition, an extra 0.5% will apply to those earning less than €50,001, with that increment scheduled for May 1st 2026.
The pay proposal document states: “The agreement reached seeks to achieve a fair balance – recognising the impact of cost of living increases on RTÉ staff and their families – while at the same time acknowledging RTÉ’s own financial position within a highly disrupted media sector and its obligations to sustain employment, public service programming and its commitments to audiences.”
The deal will run from May 1st 2025 to December 31st 2027.
It follows the previous agreement concluded in November 2022, under which staff received a 6% increase spread over two years. As part of that deal, employees were also given a non-taxable voucher of €1,000 in early 2023, followed by a further €500 voucher in January 2024.
Separately, in December 2024, it was announced that staff would receive a non-taxable voucher of up to €1,000 as an interim measure while pay negotiations continued. Talks on a successor deal are scheduled to begin in October 2027.
RTÉ and the TUG had once again enlisted the assistance of the IRT to facilitate the latest round of negotiations, culminating in this proposed agreement.
The RTÉ Trade Union Group is recommending acceptance of the deal when it goes to ballot.