FIM

The tri­par­tite Global Dialogue Forum (GDF) on Employment Relationships in the Media and Culture Sector was held at the ILO, Geneva, from Wednesday, 14 to Thursday, 15 May 2014.

The FIM del­e­ga­tion con­sist­ed of the Secretariat and rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the fol­low­ing coun­tries: Argentina, Finland, India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Norway, United Kingdom, Switzerland. Unfortunately, the rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the Gambian musi­cians union was not able to reach Geneva, fol­low­ing dif­fi­cul­ties encoun­tered in the visa deliv­ery process.

Tripartite con­stituents addressed employ­ment rela­tion­ships in the media and cul­ture sec­tor (excludes graph­i­cal sub­sec­tor), to adopt points of con­sen­sus that would encour­age future pro­gramme devel­op­ment and inform policy-​making on the select­ed top­ic at the inter­na­tion­al, region­al and nation­al levels.

Governments need to ensure that com­pe­ti­tion leg­is­la­tion does not obstruct the right of work­ers to free­dom of association

Among the adopt­ed points of con­sen­sus, one should note an implic­it ref­er­ence to Recommendation 198 (para­graph 6) and an explic­it request addressed to gov­ern­ments as regards an effi­cient imple­men­ta­tion of intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty rights of cre­ative work­ers (para­graph 2 and 7) as well as the neces­si­ty to lim­it the scope of com­pe­ti­tion rules in order to safe­guard the right of work­ers to trade union rep­re­sen­ta­tion and social dia­logue (para­graph 7):

6. A bet­ter under­stand­ing of the dif­fer­ent types of employ­ment rela­tion­ships and oth­er work­ing arrange­ments in the media and cul­ture sec­tor is need­ed to assess which types con­sti­tute an employ­ment rela­tion­ship, and which ones con­sti­tute a civ­il or com­mer­cial rela­tion­ship, bear­ing in mind that this exer­cise should not inter­fere with civ­il and com­mer­cial rela­tion­ships, while at the same time ensur­ing that indi­vid­u­als in an employ­ment rela­tion­ship have the pro­tec­tion they are due.

2. […] Where intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty rights of per­form­ers, writ­ers, direc­tors and oth­ers exist, these include eco­nom­ic and moral rights, which should involve prompt remu­ner­a­tion for the work and/​or sub­se­quent roy­al­ty or resid­ual payments.

7. […] Governments need to apply intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty pro­tec­tion laws and to ensure that com­pe­ti­tion leg­is­la­tion does not obstruct the right of media and cul­ture work­ers to free­dom of asso­ci­a­tion or to engag­ing in social dia­logue with their social partners.

In accor­dance with estab­lished pro­ce­dures, they will be sub­mit­ted to the Governing Body of the ILO at its 322nd Session in November 2014 for its consideration.

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