By Anne Lawson

A dispute between SBS management and a program producer over critical staff shortages at the multicultural broadcaster’s radio network has spilled over into the Industrial Relations Commission.

SBS has refused to fill a vacancy at its Polish radio program after one broadcaster went on leave, insisting that the workload be spread among remaining staff.

Executive producer Halina Zandler is at the centre of the row, having resisted management’s demands to force two staff members to take on extra work.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, which is pursuing the matter in the commission on Wednesday, accuses the broadcaster of adversely changing its staffing formula.

It argues that the new policy of replacing staff on sick leave or holiday only in special circumstances compromises the service, and has the potential to stifle the growth of smaller language networks within the community.

In an email sent earlier this month, Wang Yi, an SBS Radio program manager, reminded Ms Zandler of the “possible consequences” to her employment if she refused to amend the program roster in a way that would effectively increase the workload of herself and her colleagues.

Donovan Jacka, the MEAA’s industrial controller responsible for SBS in Melbourne, says the case reflects the wider problem of resource shortages and believes this has eroded standards.

“If SBS want to reduce the quality of programming in Melbourne then they are going to have a fight on their hands from the community”-Mr Jacka said.

“They should be upfront and say to people that ‘what we’re doing is reducing services to multicultural Australia.”

SBS Radio has scaled back critical resources in its foreign language programs to raise $ 180,000 for a new English language show aimed at younger listeners. However, broadcasters believe the new English-language direction threatens the multicultural nature of the charter.

Concerns were raised at a stop-work meeting in late July that caused further friction between broadcasters and management.

Staff who attended were admonished by program managers for not amending their time sheets to include time off for the meeting. “We understand the pressure many of you are working under and, as a one-off gesture of goodwill, have decided not to take issue with this particular record on some of your time sheets this time” – an email to staff said.

“This, however, should not be regarded as a precedent for similar instances in the future, which should be duly recorded.”

Mr Jacka warned that the broadcaster was contravening its charter by cutting back the number of program production hours.

But SBS’s acting head of radio, Mike Zafiropoulos, said the network needed to fund new technology and remain relevant to a changing audience.

“SBS radio is very lean in terms of resources and we need to embrace new technology and attract the second and third generation migrants. The staffing formula allows us to do that”, he said.

He insisted that the Polish program was adequately resourced and its broadcasters were not expected to work extra hours.

SBS Radio carries about 68 foreign language programs, which are broadcast on AM and FM frequencies in Melbourne and Sydney.