The Romanian Government in early April issued
\nan emergency ordinance regulating the status of the professional cultural worker.
\nThe normative act has been worked and reworked on for almost two years now. The set of regulations seeks to bring to normal
\nthe fiscal and socio-economic condition of all artists, writers, actors who
\nwork in an atypical way, who are not like the usual employees. Concurrently, the
\nbill seeks to give an impetus to cultural workers so they can make the most of their
\ncreative potential, at once being able to stay active on the labor market. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Romanian representative
\nDelia B\u0103doi has been mandated by the
\nMinistry of Culture to become a member of the working group the European Commission
\nhas created, with a view to elaborating a European set of regulations for the
\nartist. Delia Badoi has also participated in the elaboration of the normative
\nact in Romania. Here she is, briefing us on the circumstances they have been working
\non until recently. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The basic
\nidea was that in Romania, as well as in other countries, cultural workers,
\nartists, could work under the general legislation. Practically, there was a series
\nof laws still valid, as we speak, laws we can find in the Labor Code
\nlegislation and the copyright law and suchlike. Yet apart from that, we have obviously the independent forms, for
\ninstance, the authorized self-employed person, plus the fact that some of the artists
\nwork through their own firms, they are legal persons. Our legislation is quite fragmented
\nas regards the working conditions, meaning we do not have a unitary legislative
\ndocument that can include a series of stipulations capable of preventing a series
\nof economic vulnerabilities regarding the activity of the cultural sector workers.
\nAnd then this set of regulations, just as it had been stipulated as early as the 1980s when
\nwe practically had a UNESCO directive issued for us to compose it, has the clear purpose of render
\nthe intermittent, atypical activity of the cultural sector more unitary, an activity
\nwhich is at once very specific. So the necessity was quite impending, to place
\nunder the same umbrella a series of measures we labelled as benefits, rights, enabling
\ncultural sector workers to have a normal status. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Actor Doru Talo\u0219 is also the initiator of
\nthe Cluj-Napoca-based Reactor cultural independent project. His professional
\nexperience so far has made him aware of the risks posed by a profession which
\nis not clearly recognized and regulated from a fiscal point of view. With
\ndetails on that, here is Doru Talos himself. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have been working, for
\nthe last nine years, in Romania, carrying a workload that sometimes was much larger
\nthan average. And yet, my
\nemployment record includes one year and a half. So I do not have accumulated service
\nin my field of activity, I have not contributed to the pension fund so far and
\nthese needs are getting more and more serious once we get older. Up until last
\nyear I did not have health insurance because I could not afford it. And I also
\nhope that, once a legislative framework is implemented, once a series of fiscal
\nbenefits is implemented or awareness is raised about the specific needs at
\nthat level, things can improve and we can reach a formula by means of which we can
\nalso cover these absolutely important needs and expenses. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Therefore, the passing
\nof the bill of the cultural worker status can only be viewed as an auspicious
\nsign, as one first step towards the status of Romania’s freelance artists becoming
\nnormal. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Doru Talo\u0219 once again:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are extremely vulnerable,
\nin the long run, and we expose ourselves to certain risks since we fail to ensure
\nsome sort of sustainability capable of offering a series of long-term guarantees
\nas well. This normative act, I hope it would bring some sort of clarification
\nfor the people working in the field, at once making them responsible, so that
\nby assuming this status we can have a form of long-term survival, which means
\nit should take us to the point where we can feel we carry our activity as a
\nlong-term job. For the time being, my feeling is that all those working in the
\nsector are willing to work as long as they are ready to make a series of
\nsacrifices, while, sometimes, such sacrifices, you can make them only at a
\ncertain stage of your life. The needs I had when I was 25 have nothing to do
\nwith the needs I have at the age of 35. And then clarifications are needed, so
\nthat it can become a long-term profession or a kind of commitment that can work
\non a long-term basis. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is Delia Badoi
\nonce again, this time speaking about the content of the law proper:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is important to specify that, under this status, a cultural
\nactivity contract will be created. In effect, it will be a type of standardized
\ncontract we will be working on, as the very moment the worker is registered,
\nthe registration will be submitted to two institutions. First off, the incomes
\nwill be declared to the inland revenue service by filling in the standardized
\nform by May 25th and submitting an affidavit specifying the incomes
\nand the cultural activity fall within the activities stipulated by the status
\nof the cultural worker. Then another type of registration will be submitted, to
\nthe Ministry of Culture, in a specific register, where the names of the workers
\nproper are included. It will most likely be a little experiment for the next
\nthree years, when it is clearly obvious what the specific interest is for that
\narea, how much people understood what they had to do, how much they wanted to
\nhave that set of regulations or how much good or bad we do. Yet, the worst-case
\nscenario would be for that set of regulations to be inexistent, as it is through
\nthat set of regulations the improvement is pursued, and the plight of the
\nintermittent work is eased, for the work in the cultural sector. And then, through
\nthe cultural activity contract, the legal status of that specific activity is
\nacquired. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Just like any other category of legislation,
\nthe set of regulations targeting the professional cultural worker is
\nperfectible. However, as we speak, the envisaged categories are happy an important
\nstep has been taken, so that such workers’ vulnerable status is overcome.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New legislation for workers in the cultural sector<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":144437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[43926,34672,30687,31528,43927],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-144436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-affidavit","tag-cultural","tag-legislation","tag-ordinance","tag-vulnerability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n