Valencia public broadcaster RTVV to close after court ruling on layoffs

The Valencia regional government on Tuesday announced that the public broadcaster RTVV is to be closed down after a court declared a labor force adjustment plan (ERE) at the company null and void.

Readmitting the employees who had been dismissed under the ERE would have cost the administration 40 million euros, a sum it considers it is unable to assume given the delicate state of the region’s financial health.

In a statement, the administration said that after the ruling by the Valencia regional High Court on the ERE, “unfortunately,” the only viable option is to “close the public radio and television service of the region.”

In its ruling, the High Court argued the layoffs violated rules regarding EREs in a number of aspects and infringed on workers’ basic rights as enshrined in the Constitution. The ruling can be appealed with the national Supreme Court. If the government decides not to appeal the decision, it will have to pay the salaries of the workers that were dismissed from the time they were let go in August of last year.

The ruling came just as RTVV had initiated the process of privatizing the bulk of its programming, with the exception of news broadcasts.