Romanian Artists Protested In Front Of Culture Ministry

Nearly 50 members of several artists and performers’ unions criticized the draft enforcement norms of Law 535 of 2007 on entertainment institutions and companies and which regulates the activity of artistic management.

The norms proposed by the Ministry of Culture break the Constitution, the Labor Code, valid collective work contracts and leave room for abuse on the part of employers, said Dumitru Costin, head of the National Unions’ Bloc.

He said these norms would transform the contracts concluded for a limited period of time into a general rule.

"A mechanism will thus allow the employer to assess annually the professional activity of the employee, and even to lower their wages, which has never happened before on the Romanian labor market. Rights gained following years of negotiation will be thrown away. They are mixing up copyright contracts with individual work contracts. The target of the Ministry of Culture is to spend as little money as possible on human resources,” Costin added.

Costin asked the Ministry of Culture to amend the respective enforcement norms, otherwise the unionists are determined to protest every week from now on.

On the other hand, state secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Demeter Andras, said the norms respect the Constitution and have been discussed in three meetings with the unionists.

He said the contracts concluded for a determined period of time are stipulated even by Law 353/2007. "The entire evaluation and payment procedure observes the law. Payment must be evaluated considering “duration of labor”, “labor complexity” and “quality of previous labor”.

"First of all, we are trying to admit the existence of copyright for composers, playwrights, choreographers and connected rights for performers and directors, which has been ignored so far in cultural institutions. To avoid measuring the exact time spent inside these institutions, the law admits the existence of copyright, which will become part of the payment. The number of concerts, general rehearsals, the evaluation of quality and complexity make up other payment criteria,” Andras said.

He added the new legislative frame will eliminate the “communist” management in cultural institutions. 

Representatives of the unionists of the Ministry of Culture will meet in the following days to discuss the draft enforcement norms.

Mid-June, Andras told a press conference that Romanian performers would see increased salaries this year, of up to 4,200 lei (EUR1=RON3.5420) compared to the current maximum of RON1,500, under the new law.