The new salary system at the national public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) is implemented with difficulty and with management mistakes as well as amid protests from a part of the employees, said experts of the Electronic Press Association (APEL), who presented a monitoring report.

Project director Vasile State, in a news conference at IPN, said the new system was to be implemented this July, but it wasn’t. The new system ensures the switchover from pay grades based on honorariums, provided depending on the quantity of work, to a system based on bonuses for performance and quality.

The expert said the company’s administration, which decided to replace the old salary system with a new one designed to stimulate professional performance, tolerated the non-obeying of the set implementation terms, including for preparing the necessary documents at different stages. It avoided imposing penalties in order to remedy the situation on time. This fact led to delays in instituting the new system.

According to the report, over the last four years the Supervisory Board of TRM devoted enough time to the examination of subjects related to the new salary system. However, it didn’t show consistency in its actions and decisions and didn’t appropriately supervise the implementation of the new system at the national public broadcaster. It didn’t properly monitor the reform done in the area and didn’t make use of its legal powers when penalties should have been imposed for the delayed implementation of its decisions.

APEL expert Corneliu Rusnac said they recommend strengthening the inspection ring of the management process so that it is more coherent, clear and efficient.

The Electronic Press Association since 2011 has monitored the reforms implemented at Teleradio-Moldova within a project supported by the Mass Media Program of Soros Foundation Moldova.