Ljubljana - In-house journalist trade unions at the public broadcaster have filed dozens of complaints with various institutions over alleged pressure exerted on staff by the leadership of RTV Slovenija and threats of disciplinary action. They gave a news conference on Friday to present the strained situation at the broadcaster.

Helena Milinković, the head of the coordination of journalist unions at RTV Slovenija, said staff continued to be subject to mobbing and smearing. Instead of trying to resolve the situation, the leadership was stepping up pressure on individual desks, journalists and programme makers, threatening some staff to dismiss them.

Uroš Urbanija is overstepping his powers as TV Slovenija director by pressuring TV programme editors and "dictates" what guests they should have on the show, said Milinković.

A while ago, the unions called on director general Andrej Grah Whatmough to dismiss Urbanija for overstepping his powers, but have not yet received an answer.

Urbanija meanwhile said in a statement for TV Slovenija that he was not familiar with any pressure or mobbing, sterssing that "we'll of course act immediately if I'm notified of concrete cases". He criticised the trade unions for exerting pressure on editors with false accusations.

One of the journalists against whom the leadership opened a disciplinary procedure is Boris Vasev from the broadcaster's MMC news portal.

Vasev said the disciplinary procedure had been opened against him after he criticised on his personal Twitter account acting MMC editor Igor Pirkovič for spreading unverified rumours in a TV show that migrants were to blame for the wildfires in Kras region.

A strike has been under way at the broadcaster for 110 days, during which time the group led by Milinković has met the management for 12 rounds of talks. "There has been no progress in talks, we haven't moved from the first point of the first strike demand, that is journalist, editorial and institutional autonomy."

"We won't give up, we will insist on professional work and the autonomy of journalists and editors," said Milinković, adding that an attack on one of them was an attack on all.

She said dozens of complaints had been filed with the relevant authorities such as the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and the Labour Inspectorate, as well as criminal complaints.

She called on the lawmakers to review the broadcaster's operations as a matter of priority. She believes the programming and production plan is being violated with a repeat of the talk show Arena in the Monday slot time that used to be filled by the popular political magazine show Studio City.

Support for journalists was today expressed by the Higher Education Trade Union, which urged all institutions, but primarily the National Assembly, to take action to stop politically-motivated moves by the programme council, hiring of unskilled staff, destruction of news programmes, and disciplining of critical workers.

Senior TV Slovenia journalist Igor Bergant pointed to the role of reliable and credible news RTC Slovenia should deliver to all residents: "We've been trying to explain this to the people who run this institution for some time now, but they just don't get it."

Urbanija, who headed the Government Communication Office under the Janez Janša government, was appointed TV Slovenija director in mid-July despite protests from the in-house trade unions.