EPSU Regional Conference for Culture Workers in Hungary

(5 June 2015) EPSU Regional Conference for culture workers in Hungary Visegrad, 2-4 June The culture sector is undergoing painful restructuring. Librarians, museum workers, archivists and musicians discussed the impact of austerity on their jobs at an EPSU conference. It has a negative impact on the quality of services. {Challenges} Trade union leaders face challenging circumstances to protect workers under these conditions. The main problems discussed were low budgets and undervalued role of culture, low salaries and poor working conditions. Another issue is the decline in the number of union members in the sector (known as union density), so people discussed how to organize and recruit. {Discussion} We heard from Christine Jakob, EPSU Officer for Local and Regional Government on the role of European structures in the protection of public services in the field of culture. Ovidiu Jurca from the ILO in Budapest explained ILO policies to protect trade union rights. Where from here? Next steps are to contribute to the PSI Education Support and Cultural Workers Network and develop a strategy for culture workers. J. Krejbych, EPSU Regional Office Prague.