REPORT: Fairtrade in Filmmaking – EP event hosted by MEP Evelyn Regner discussing working conditions in the EU audiovisual sector
Interface Film – an initiative of EU XXL – in partnership with FERA, IMAGO and YOUNION organized a panel on working conditions in the EU audiovisual industry. The event was hosted by Austrian S&D MEP Evelyn Regner and emphasized the importance of establishing fair framework conditions on a European level, regarding working conditions, social benefits, gender equality, minimum remuneration and distribution networks. It discussed proposals and practical solutions to improve the different national systems at a European level, which could be groundbreaking in tackling unfair working conditions in the EU audiovisual industry as well as new social challenges posed by the digital era on the working environment in general.
The panel took place on April 1stat the European Parliament in Brussels and it featured interventions from speakers MEP Evelyn Regner, Mercedes Echerer (EU XXL), Zora Brachman (Interface Film), Pauline Durand-Vialle (FERA), Kurt Brazda (IMAGO/ AAC) and Johannes Studinger (UNI MEI).
FERA presented the final results of the first-ever study on the remuneration and socio-economic profile of European audiovisual authors, underlining indicators of unpaid work, long hours, difficulties in finding a work/life balance, low pay, limited access to social benefits as freelancers, unstable income and overall unsustainable careers.
FERA noted the importance of public funding as a vector of fairness in the European audiovisual sector, and insisted on the need for more data on employment in the sector to raise awareness on working conditions with policy-makers, as well as the essential importance to ensure a proper right to representation for creative freelancers in the sector.
FERA kindly thanks MEP Evelyn Regner for hosting the event, organizing partners Interface Film – EU XXL, IMAGO and YOUNION, and all speakers and participants for their interest and involvement in the event.
1 April 2019
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