European Sectoral Social Dialogue - Audiovisual

Joint Declaration by the EU Audiovisual sector Social Dialogue Committee

Tallinn Declaration

EU Framework of Actions by FIA and other European Audiovisual Social Partners

FIA and other social partners from the EU Audiovisual Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee have created a tool to promote Gender Equality in the audiovisual sector throughout the EU. Showing a real commitment for progress in this field from both the unions (FIA, FIM, IFJ and UNI-MEI) and the employers (ACT, AER, CEPI, EBU and FIAPF), this Framework of Actions (FoA) can now be used by European national social partners to advocate for gender equality in the workplace of audiovisual performers and other workers of the sector.

Based on international legislation and research - including EuroFIA's two projects on gender equality - the FoA is divided in five thematic chapters and identifies simple and concrete actions which can be followed at national level and allow to try and achieve gender equality in the production of AV content in Europe. Those five fields of action are:

• Gender Portrayal;
• Addressing Gender Roles at Work;
• Equal Pay;
• Equality in Decision Making;
• Work-Life Balance.

Download this document in English, French, German or Spanish here below, and join FIA in its promotion of Gender Equality for audiovisual performers.

Framework of Actions on Gender Equality Cadre d'Actions sur l'Egalité Hommes-Femmes Aktionsrahmen zur Gleichstellung der Geslechter Marco General de Acciones sobre la Igualdad de Genero

Sofia Declaration: European social partners in the Audiovisual sector present a joint declaration to EU governments to encourage the strengthening of social dialogue in new Member States

European social partners in the Audiovisual sector gathered in Sofia on September 30^th and October 1^st of 2010 to draw conclusions from the five regional roundtables held throughout the year in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The aim of these roundtables was to work on capacity building of social dialogue in the audiovisual sector of these EU member states and to meet with government officials to stress the importance of supporting social partners’ establishment and activities.

This seminar was an opportunity for participants to address work relationships and conditions in a discussion acknowledging the audiovisual sector’s specificities. For instance, the unfortunate and particularly aggressive attacks targeted towards the culture sector in times of a global financial crisis were highlighted as a visible trend that absolutely must be fought against. In order to the support the Audiovisual industry at European level, representation must be ensured, which is why the Audiovisual Sector Social Dialogue Committee launched this project. Indeed, it hopes it will lead to more concrete involvement from New Member States’ social partners.

The seminar lead social partners involved in the Committee (CEPI, EBU and FIAPF for the employers, and FIA, FIM, EFJ and UNI MEI for the trade unions) to sign a joint declaration affirming their commitment to ensure the continuing good health and quality of the audiovisual sector. The main lines of this document are the conviction:

1) All member states should recognise the necessity and benefits of employers’ associations and trade unions, and the mutual recognition between employers and workers;

2) It is necessary to have strong employers’ associations and strong unions who are able and capable to negotiate on collective agreements in order to strengthen the European Social Dialogue;

3) Social dialogue should be considered, developed and strengthened where possible in the audiovisual sector in those countries where it is absent.

The declaration further outlines several propositions for the European Union, the Member States’ governments, the Employers and employers’ associations in the new Member States, and the Workers and trade unions in new Member States to follow.

To read the full joint declaration, please follow the link below.

Sofia Declaration

Sectoral Social Dialogue at European Level: a brief introduction

For about ten years, FIA has been involved in sectoral social dialogue at European level. Sectoral social dialogue is an instrument of EU social policy and industrial relations at sectoral level. It consists of negotiations between the European trade union and employer organisations of a specific sector of the economy. The conditions are set out in Commission decision 98/500/EC of May 20 1998 for consultation and dialogue between employer and employee representatives in specialised committees. Committees generally meet five or six times a year, and a plenary session is held twice a year.

The Commission, in its Communication on ‘The European social dialogue, a force for innovation and change’, expressed the view that the sectoral level ‘is the proper level for discussion on many issues linked to employment, such as working conditions, vocational training and industrial change, the knowledge society, demographic patterns, enlargement and globalisation’ (COM (2002) 341 final of 26 June 2002). FIA has indeed found that many of these issues can be very usefully addressed at European level, as well as other specific themes such as health and safety, anti-discrimination and equal opportunities.

The sectoral social dialogue committees are established with due regard for the autonomy of the social partners. The social partner organisations must apply jointly to the European Commission in order to take part in a social dialogue at European level. The European organisations representing employers and workers must, when submitting this application, meet a number of criteria:

• relate to specific sectors or categories, and be organized at European level
• consist of organizations which are themselves an integral and recognized part of Member State's social partner structures, and have the capacity to negotiate agreements, and which are representative of several Member States
• have adequate structures to ensure their effective participation in the work of the committees

Through this process, social partners have reached a large number of autonomous agreements at the European level which they implement themselves, while others have been transformed into binding legislation.

FIA is involved in the European sectoral social dialogue through two sectoral social dialogue committees: the “Live performance” committee and the “Audiovisual” committee. There are more details on the members, key achievements and the ongoing work of these committees in the dedicated sections below.

More details

European Commission website provides useful and very detailed information about the work of the European sectoral social dialogue committees.

Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on Audiovisual

In the Audiovisual committee discussions have focused on televisual activities, artistic activities broadcast by technical means, radio broadcasting and film production. Some of the main topics of discussion in the European sectoral social dialogue committee on Audiovisual are: development of social dialogue structures of new member States, mobility of cultural workers, theatre technicians training, health and safety and cultural policies and economy. You can download the 2009 work programme below.

The membership of the Committee is as follows:

Workers’ Organisations		Employers’ Organisation
International Federation of Actors (FIA)		Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT)
International Federation of Musicians (FIM)		Association of European Radios (AER)
UNI MEI - Global Union for media, entertainment, arts and sports.		European Coordination of Independant Producers (CEPI)
European Federation of Journalists (IFJ)		European Broadcasting Union (EBU-UER)
		International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF)

 

Achievements and work programme:

The Committee adopted its first text, a joint declaration on Social Dialogue as a tool to tackle changing environments, on 7th May 2006. It has also undertaken projects on enlargement and development of social dialogue structures in the new Member States. The committee also follows up on relevant EU legislative initiatives, such the directive on services in the internal market, the working time directive and the noise directive. The committee produced a joint response to the Commission Green Paper on Modernising Labour Law in 2006.

The key issues at present are gender equality and training. The committee is working to develop some actions in these areas. A training working group has been set up to explore a future European project on training of journalists and technicians. The committee is in existence 5 years this year and will also take up the opportunity to review the committee’s work to date.

To access the documents of the committees please also consult the “circa” homepage of the European Commission: http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/empl/sectoral_social_dialogue/library

Would you like to get involved?

Participation in the meetings of the social dialogue committee is facilitated by the European Commission, which covers travel and accommodation expenses for members coming from EU members states. We would remind our European members that they are welcome to get involved in the work of the committees and indeed, we warmly invite them to do so. Any member wishing to get involved should contact the FIA secretariat.

Work Programme Audiovisual Committee 2009

© 2005 FIA