Cultural Workers Union

What is KO

Kultúrne odbory (KO) – The Cultural Workers Union – is a bottom-up trade union bringing together people working in arts and culture. We represent not only employees of cultural institutions and organizations but also self-employed individuals, including freelancers, part-time workers, and volunteers. We are a progressive union; together, we aim to explore the potential of unions that respond to new forms of work organization and precarious labor, and to organize collectively even when we are atomized.

We fight not only for the rights of art and culture workers, better working conditions, and social security but also for systemic changes to combat structural injustice. We build on the values of solidarity and cooperation. Our goal is to forge alliances and through collective effort improve the standing of all precarious workers, not just those active in the arts and culture sector.

Learn more in our KO Manifesto.

Kultúrne odbory is a trade union bringing together people working in the fields of arts, culture, and the creative industries.

KO Manifesto

For a time, it may have seemed that unions were an outdated institution, one that conflicted with the notion of workers in culture and the arts as independent individuals. Under the guise of freedom, we have lost even the most basic social security. At the same time, it is mistakenly assumed that our incomes are high enough to cover social and health insurance and still allow us to set aside money for retirement or emergencies. However, viewing workers in culture and the arts as business entities is naive, discriminatory, and unsustainable. Freedom understood in this way is, above all, synonymous with being on call in a 24/7 work mode.

• Let us not get used to insufficient remuneration for our work, low wages, and symbolic, if not zero, fees.

• Let us not get used to "rescuing" low project budgets and the underfunding of the entire cultural sector through our own exhaustion – via cheap labor and flexibility, the accumulation of multiple roles, and self-financing.

• Let us not get used to working under unfavorable contracts or forced/bogus self-employment.

• Let us not get used to financial insecurity, the absence of social security, and continuous competition for support and grants.

• Let us not get used to false notions of social capital and the hope for future recognition that only materializes for the "most successful," if at all.

• Let us not get used to endless explanations that simply providing a space for a project is not enough. Art is work. Culture is work.

• Let us not get used to attempts to control cultural institutions and the media politically.

• Let us not get used to dividing culture into traditional and contemporary. Both are vital parts of a shared ecosystem.

• Let us not get used to the narrative that divides people into "decadent liberal circles" and "defenders of traditional values." But neither to the narrative that reproduces this same division with the opposite sign, dividing people into "liberal elites" and "the backward rest." In both forms, this division underpins the success of far-right parties; our task is to refute it wherever it appears.
  
  

KO Membership

Kultúrne odbory is a bottom-up initiative, not a service organization. As with any grassroots movement, our sustainability and political leverage depend on the membership base we manage to build. There is much work and many decisions ahead of us, all of which should be collective. We welcome your interest in co-shaping the KO agenda and your initiative in establishing and running working groups. Anyone active in the fields of arts and culture can become a member of Kultúrne odbory, regardless of your specialization or the form of your work.

What KO provides for its members and what we aim to work on:

• collective bargaining with, among others, representatives of both state-funded and independent cultural organizations, support funds, and foundations, as well as policymakers (not only in the cultural sector),

• legal and professional advice and consultations,

• representation in labor disputes or related legal proceedings,

• developing fair remuneration systems, collective agreements on minimum fee levels, and ensuring their payment within the agreed timeframe,

• developing strategies against bogus self-employment,

• developing best practice guidelines,

• proposing solutions and advocating for self-employed workers* in culture and the arts, as well as in other precarious sectors, to achieve adequate social, health, and pension security, and advocating for the status

• fighting discrimination in the workplace, actively supporting disadvantaged groups of workers,

• courses, workshops, (financial and labor law literacy),

• direct actions, strikes, workplace negotiations, and creative forms of protest.

Membership fees are set according to a sliding scale

• Solidarity membership fees: more than €8 per month (over €96 per year)

• Full membership fees: €8 per month (€96 per year)

• Medium membership fees: €5 per month (€60 per year)

• Lowest membership fees: €3 per month (€36 per year)

Guidance on which price tier you should choose:

Full membership fees should be paid by those whose income comfortably covers all basic living expenses. Medium membership fees should be considered by those for whom covering basic living expenses can sometimes be difficult. Minimum membership fees are intended for those who regularly struggle to meet their basic living needs. (You can find more information about this model here, for example.) A common practice—where union dues are typically 1% of net income—can also help you determine your fee amount.

Membership fees are paid on a calendar-month basis. You can pay them monthly or annually (i.e., for 12 calendar months). We would also like to remind you that KO committee positions are unpaid. We are a grassroots-organized group that performs work for Cultural Workers Union alongside our other jobs without compensation. Membership dues have so far been used only for legal advice. The goal of the Cultural Workers Union is not to build service-based unions, but to activate the membership base to the greatest extent possible.