RTP paid out €12 million in allowances now deemed “improper” to 20% of workforce – Portugal Resident

Portugal’s public broadcaster RTP paid more than €12 million in special salary allowances to around 20% of its workforce over seven years, according to a Finance Inspectorate audit that has now classified the payments as “improper”.

The preliminary findings have prompted RTP’s board to suspend the award of any new allowances and placed existing payments to approximately 340 employees at risk.

Those affected include some of the broadcaster’s best-known presenters and news anchors, among them Vítor Gonçalves, António José Teixeira, Alberta Marques Fernandes, Fátima Campos Ferreira, Carlos Daniel, João Adelino Faria and Hélder Silva.

The allowances reportedly range from €2,000 to €7,000 per month. Their withdrawal could therefore result in substantial reductions to some employees’ monthly salaries.

RTP’s board has requested an urgent meeting with the government departments responsible for the broadcaster and public finances to explore whether the existing payments can legally be maintained. It has yet to be received.

The government, meanwhile, has distanced itself from the controversy, saying remuneration decisions at RTP are a matter of day-to-day management for the company’s own governing bodies.

Payments made between 2018 and 2024

The Inspectorate-General of Finance (IGF) examined allowances paid between 2018 and 2024 following an audit requested around 18 months ago by the PSD parliamentary group.

More than 300 employees received a combined €12 million during that period. However, RTP’s works council and four trade unions have stressed that around 80% of employees receive none of the disputed payments and will not be directly affected.

Routine benefits paid to much of the workforce — including meal, transport, seniority, integration and working-hours allowances — are not in question.

The disputed payments relate to a narrower series of arrangements introduced by successive RTP boards from 2005 onwards.

According to the unions, these were often created to address specific circumstances, including the consolidation of salaries for employees who coordinated teams, additional payments for presenting programmes and compensation for staff required to perform several different roles.

Other allowances reflected particularly demanding working conditions, including those faced by employees in the autonomous regions and other parts of the country where individuals may be required to carry out work spanning several professional categories.

Many were awarded individually through administrative decisions or personal agreements. The IGF reportedly concluded that they lacked sufficient formal regulation.

RTP disputes inspectorate’s conclusions

RTP maintains that almost all the allowances are covered by its 2006 company agreement or by internal regulations predating the salary restrictions imposed on State-owned companies in 2011.

The broadcaster argues that rights acquired under those arrangements were not subsequently removed.

Its board also stressed that the allowances represent less than 2% of total staff costs and had been used as salary-policy instruments for many years.

The audit remains provisional. RTP has exercised its right to challenge the findings, and the IGF is now considering the board’s response.

The works council and unions have agreed to examine the payments individually with management, with the aim of establishing the justification for each and formally regulating the arrangements where necessary.

They are also preparing an injunction to prevent what they describe as the “abusive” removal of pay solely on the basis of an administrative decision without the necessary legal grounds.

Questions raised over timing of disclosure

The unions have questioned the political circumstances surrounding both the audit and the disclosure of its preliminary findings.

They said the audit request came at a particularly sensitive moment, when concerns were being raised over proposed changes to RTP’s public-service concession contract. Some employees consequently interpreted it as an act of “political pressure”.

They also noted that the findings had emerged while a new RTP board of directors is being selected. The current board is led by Nicolau Santos.

The joint statement was signed by RTP’s works council and the SICOMP, SITESE, SITIC and SINTTAV unions.

Government says it will not intervene

The office of Minister for the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said the government had received neither a preliminary nor a final report from the IGF and had not been formally informed about the audit.

It insisted that the inspectorate enjoys technical and operational independence and that the government “cannot and will not” interfere in its work.

Decisions concerning individual components of RTP employees’ pay are “typical acts of day-to-day management” falling under the responsibility of the broadcaster’s internal governing bodies, the minister’s office said.

It added that RTP operates under a model granting it enhanced autonomy, including oversight by an Independent General Council, meaning the matter does not fall within the government’s direct remit.

The controversy comes at a difficult time for the public broadcaster. RTP recorded a €3.9 million loss in 2025 — its first annual deficit in 15 years.

source material: Expresso