On Monday, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) participated in the European Commission’s high-level round table on the working conditions of artists and cultural workers. This was an opportunity for the EFJ to present a copy of the recent report by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on Labour rights for journalists to European Commissioners Roxana Minzatu and Glenn Micallef.
The EFJ welcomes the start of consultations initiated by the European Commission with a view to adopting a European Charter for Artists and Cultural Workers. The initiative concerns nearly 8 million professionals in Europe who are increasingly vulnerable in terms of working conditions and social rights.
After a discussion lasting nearly four hours on the 13th floor of the Berlaymont building in Brussels with representatives from Euro-MEI, the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), the International Federation of Actors (FIA), the EFJ and 22 other organisations, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Roxana Minzatu, acknowledged that artists and workers in the sector should be entitled to fair remuneration, genuine access to social protection, and mechanisms that protect them from the harmful use of generative artificial intelligence.
In response to numerous calls to improve the social rights of freelance workers, European Commissioner for Culture Glenn Micallef said that it was essential to “promote collective bargaining in the sector”.
MEPs Li Andersson, Chair of the European Parliliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), and Nela Riehl, Chair of the Committee on Culture (CULT), were also present at Monday’s round table, pointing out that it was the European Parliament that proposed this initiative in 2023 and that they were well disposed to support the process.
During Monday’s discussions, the EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez presented the two European Commissioners and two MEPs with a copy of the report adopted on 3 December by the European Economic and Social Committee on Labour rights for journalists. “I emphasised the concrete recommendations at the beginning of the report, in particular the call for the European Commission to adopt a directive on psychosocial risks at work and the need to implement as soon as possible the European guidelines authorising the negotiation of collective agreements in favour of freelancers,” explained Gutiérrez. “We cannot afford to let the conditions of workers in the cultural sectors deteriorate. It is time for policy makers to move from words to action.”
Source: EFJ
