For two years

ORF pulls the ripcord: top salaries to be frozen

The cost-cutting measures at ORF are now also affecting the pay emperors - there will be no inflation adjustment for them for the next two years.(Bild: Zwefo)

Ahead of the decisive meeting of the Board of Trustees this week, it has become clear that the top salaries at ORF will be frozen. 74 employees on the much-discussed transparency list - all with an annual gross salary of over 170,000 euros - will not receive any inflation adjustment at all in 2026 and 2027.

This results in a loss of around 5,000 to 10,000 euros per person, as was revealed in the run-up to the meeting. General Director Roland Weißmann confirmed the new cost-cutting measures to the "Krone" newspaper on Thursday.

"Tough but constructive talks"
As reported, ORF is under enormous financial pressure. A total of 470 million euros must be saved between 2023 and 2029 because the budget levy will not be valorized. Weißmann speaks of "tough but constructive talks" between the works council and management.

ORF "must save", says Director General Weißmann, setting the direction.(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

The agreement now presented is once again below inflation: 1.85 percent next year and 1.4 percent for 2027, plus a one-off payment of 400 euros. This is the fourth salary agreement in a row that means a minus for ORF employees when adjusted for inflation.

Salaries at the highest level completely excluded
However, the decision to completely exclude salaries at the two highest levels and all published top salaries stands out in particular. For the 74 people on the transparency list, this means no adjustment for two years - a signal that parts of the Board of Trustees had been pushing for for months.

The Board of Trustees will meet again on Thursday - and, as reported, wants to send a visible signal to the fee payers. The ÖVP-affiliated Board of Trustees member Gregor Schütze formulated clear expectations in advance: "We expect to close the meeting below inflation again. Anything else would be unacceptable." The ORF must operate "economically and efficiently" in order to close the funding gap in the coming years. The savings target for 2025 alone amounts to around 100 million euros.

Further years remain tense
The years after that will also remain tight: an additional 140 million euros will have to be compensated for between 2027 and 2029. The frozen salaries of the top earners are part of this savings strategy. The Board of Trustees wants to strictly monitor compliance.

The discussion about high ORF salaries regularly boils over. Just this spring, the publication of the transparency list for annual gross salaries of 170,000 euros or more once again made headlines. There were 74 names on the list - a total of over 16 million euros, financed by the household levy of almost 90,000 ORF contributors.

At the top of the list at the time was Ö3 morning presenter Robert Kratky, who has since retired, with an annual salary of 473,000 euros. He thus earned more than Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and even more than several ORF directors combined. Many of the expensive contracts date back to the 70s and 80s.

The ORF points out that less than two percent of the workforce is affected by these high salaries and that many of the people mentioned have already left or are about to do so.

Every euro now "double-checked"
While registration for the 90,000 tickets for the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna's Stadthalle is underway (advance sales from January 13), the financial reality on the Küniglberg remains harsh: ORF must continue to make savings. Even major projects such as the new ORF Center, which remained under budget at 17 million euros, will not change this.

"It is your ORF and all of ours," emphasized Schütze - and demands that every euro be double-checked, especially in times of a non-valorized budget levy.