The independent trade union of International Radio Serbia has published a statement on the Serbian Home Page of the station’s website, informing the public about the seriousness of financial problems at the station, including the payment of salaries.
Under the adopted budget for 2009, the monthly means of International Radio Serbia have been reduced by 12 percent compared to last year’s monthly budget. Employees’ salaries have been cut by the same amount. In addition, the union says that the irregular transfer of funds endangers the functioning of the programmes because of unpaid debts for electricity, satellite, Internet, phones and more.
The employees fear that in the absence of agreed future funding, further cuts will be made which will threaten the station’s survival. They want the Minister of Culture Nebojsa Bradic to take the matter seriously, and say they should be treated the same as other employees of the Ministry of Culture. They are asking Serbs around the world to send email messages of support for the station.
(Summary of statement in Serbian, machine-translated).
