News

At the end of May, UNI MEI, together with the Federation of European Film and TV Directors (FERA) and the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) have organised a joint two-day peer-to-peer training to build capacity of trade unions and guilds across Europe with respect to collective bargaining for creators in film and TV.

The training was attended by leaders of national trade unions and guilds from over 20 EU countries and aimed at developing a common understanding and view on good practice in contracts and collective bargaining. It was designed to transfer knowledge and experience from unions and guilds with mature agreements and bargaining culture to peer organisations, which face significant barriers in collective bargaining.

The European participants also had the opportunity to exchange on collective bargaining with their colleagues from North America, including the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC Ontario) and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE). Bill Skolnik from DGC Ontario and Megan McRobert from WGA East shared the long-standing experiences of their organisations in bargaining collectively for creators in film and Television. 

The training will be followed by two further training workshops to be held in 2018 and 2019, focusing on standard contracts and fair remuneration. The training seminars are part of an EU co-funded project which started this year and will last until the end of 2019. The project ultimately aims to initiate a structured dialogue in the EU Digital Single Market with major European employers’ associations over fair remuneration of creators, in line with the future provisions of the revised EU copyright directive.