Organisers in the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) have said that they will oppose RTÉ's plans to outsource and privatise the production of both the Late Late Show and Fair City.

The union has claimed that it believes that these structural changes are being forced upon staff members "without consultation."

The proposed changes result from the national broadcast's future planning strategy, published last Tuesday. The plan aims to secure RTÉ a 20 million state bailout following months of scandal.

The 'New Direction Strategy' was drafted after several previous reviews into the broadcaster, town hall meetings conducted by Director General Kevin Bakhurst and a government probe that occurred after the presenter payment scandal last year.

The offered plan will see 400 jobs cut, a limit on presenter pay, and the outsourcing of production work.

RTÉ will conduct the job cuts through a voluntary exit programme and also aims to reduce employment costs to 51% by 2024 and 45% by 2029.

The station will look to invest in more productions outside of Dublin. This includes plans to demolish the facilities in its HQ in Donnybrook and build new studio facilities in Cork.

SIPTU member and RTÉ Broadcast Engineer Ciaran Kelly have said that these proposals are a "kick in the teeth to the ordinary workers at the station", who have "gone the extra mile" to ensure that programmes made it to air during the scandal.

Kelly added that RTÉ is "a company to which staff have given their working lives. If management believes that it will be allowed to erode conditions of employment that were long fought for and hard-won, it is seriously mistaken."

Zac Slope, chairperson of SIPTU RTÉ Committee, has said that the union is not confident in the current management's organisation and believes that the proposed strategy does not consider RTÉ staff.

"SIPTU members will not be left to pay the price for problems created by RTÉ management," he said. He also explained that the union seeks to meet with RTÉ management to raise these oppositions.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett spoke of the proposed strategy yesterday at the Dáil as it was being discussed, saying, "The net result of the scandal, of the bad behaviour and excessive pay to a tiny group of people we learn, is the outsourcing and privatisation of the two flagship programmes of RTÉ, Fair City and The Late Late Show."

Bakhurst, speaking on RTÉ Radio on Tuesday, claimed that RTÉ "won't be able to maintain" the studios after another five years and said the station will be considering all of the options at its disposal, including outsourcing both shows to independent contractors.