Faro, Lisbon and Porto will host, on the 4th of June, a demonstration denouncing the “catastrophic” situation in which workers in the culture sector find themselves, through an action promoted by the Union of Show Workers, Audiovisual and of Musicians.
Em Faro, the initiative will take place, at 18 pm, on the steps of Teatro Lethes.
On May 21, artists from various sectors, from theater to plastic arts, passing through music, had already promoted another action, in this case a vigil, for similar reasons, but with no results.
The Union (CENA-STE) warns that emergency and background measures are delayed and the consequences are increasingly devastating in the sector, fearing a prolonged effect on the lives of professionals and on Culture.
CENA-STE advances that, with this action, it intends to demand emergency measures that meet this reality.
And on the table is again the proposal of 1% of the State Budget for Culture, as well as the requirement to end the limitation of competitions in which hundreds of applications considered eligible are left without support.
The union also demands fundamental changes in the sector's labor legislation, intending to do away with green receipts in order to have fairer access to social protection measures.
With shows canceled, many workers without any income or with “drastically reduced” income, the situation of an already “precarious, impoverished and defenseless” sector, its characteristics ”.
In a survey carried out in early April, CENA-STE disclosed that 98% of the workers questioned had their jobs canceled and 33% of these for more than 30 days, a total of losses only in this period (second fortnight of March) and only relative who responded to the €85 million survey. And I recalled that XNUMX% of these are self-employed, without any labor protection. The union considers that the situation has “worsened” and has already signaled that it will promote another inquiry.
In a statement, the sector union now emphasizes that "three months have passed since the pandemic changed everyone's lives and in a very violent way that of musicians, entertainment and audiovisual workers."
He adds that in a sector in which precariousness dominates, the effects are "catastrophic" and as time goes by, without emergency and background measures being taken, the consequences are increasingly "devastating and augur for a prolonged effect" on the lives of professionals and about Culture.
CENA – STE recalls that as soon as the first shows were cancelled, it sought to collect information about the cancellations and their effects.
“It found, as anticipated, a precarious, impoverished and defenseless sector, a sector that has long lacked an adequate legislative framework, which takes into account its characteristics”, he explains.
According to the sector's union, it was developed and presented to the Ministry of Culture, led by Graça Fonseca, a notebook of measures that seek to respond to urgent problems, but also to old problems, which, he stresses, “take time to be solved”.
“Unfortunately, the response to our proposals and demands has been little more than silence. While the Ministry of Culture and the Government postpone fundamental decisions, thousands of workers have already seen their incomes suppressed or drastically reduced and do not foresee any protection in the foreseeable future, which is supposed to be bleak”, he concludes.
Faced with this scenario, CENA – STE emphasizes that “this is the time to reinforce unity and struggle, because this is the time to clearly say what we want for Culture”.
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