Employment Tag

blank

Fair pay practice tools: Unofficial Job House and Standard Regulations on Secondary Employment Conditions for Archaeology.

1 December 2023

Design: Formfest, Graphic Happiness

Fair pay practice tools

The Chain Table on Archaeology c.s. hereby presents an unofficial Job Classification and a Standard Regulation on Secondary Conditions of Employment. On the basis of a specific Labor Monitor and additional in-depth research at businesses and government agencies, this Job House contains five main categories, each with three types of jobs. These are provided with the current remunerations. They are: employee, project leader, (material) specialist, depot manager, consultant. In addition, many sectors of archaeology can be described as adjacent. For this reason, the Standard Regulations were drawn up on the basis of a detailed comparison with four existing adjoining collective agreements and a revoked archaeological collective agreement. These regulations contain general recommendations to all businesses and organizations in this sub-sector, particularly those without a collective agreement, as well as considerations for individual assessment for each business or organization.

Practice tools:

FairPACCT Chain Table Archaeology fair pay practice tool 1:
Unofficial Function House Archaeology. Final version, November 2023.

FairPACCT Chain Table Archaeology fair pay practice tool 2:
Standard arrangement for secondary benefits archaeology. Final version, November 2023.

Review of consultation

The consultation did not result in responses that gave rise to changes to the chain table’s earlier fair pay proposals. Thus, these have now become two final practice instruments.

Looking ahead to additional activities

The Council for Culture advocated a collective bargaining agreement for excavation companies and a new professional organization for archaeologists in February 2022. In her November 2022 policy response, the State Secretary of OCW considers this primarily an advice to the sector. But she did provide stimulus money for the formation of a professional association.
Working people have started working on this: through fairPACCT they can use a content advisor, and they have recently reached out financially to the Ministry of OCW.

The chain table recently engaged Leeuwendaal, a recognized job evaluation agency, to create an official Job House for archaeology from January, with fair pay rewards. This agency is active in adjacent sectors such as for municipalities/regional environmental services and museums. In addition, the chain table is at an advanced stage with three memoranda on specific topics: the position of self-employed workers; forms and duration of contracts; safety and working conditions. FairPACCT and the chain table are hoping for more financial incentives from the state for archaeological work, which is currently required by law but not subsidized at all. Just as these monies have been put on hold for fair pay in the publicly subsidized parts of the cultural sector. The current market with contracts by private parties and tenders by the governments leads to low prices and few opportunities for good working conditions. The chain table wants to work, preferably together with other chain tables, to improve this. For example, the national government and government services should set a good example in tenders aimed at a fair price and fair remuneration.

Learn more

FairPACCT chain table Archaeology

(continue reading under the heading ‘current’ or ‘across the table’)

blank

Fair pay practice tools: Job handbook and Standard Regulation on secondary conditions of employment for producing literary organizations

1 December 2023

Design: Formfest, Graphic Happiness

Fair pay practice tools

The Chain Table of Literary Organizations c.s. hereby presents a Job Handbook and a Standard Regulations on Fringe Benefits. These are primarily intended for those working at literary festivals, events and literary-educational institutions. In addition, the chain table is today releasing for consultation a guideline on starting rates for authors and others performing/commissioned there. View the guideline here. For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that the national umbrella organization VLAM21 has commissioned HTH Research to conduct preliminary research into the fair pay situation at that time of both working and performing authors with a view to the start of the chain table in February 2022.

Practice tools:

AWVN i.c.w. FairPACCT Chain Table Literary Organizations fair pay practice tool 1: ‘Job manual producing literary organizations. Final version, November 2023.’

AWVN Job Handbook Producing literary organizations, additional appendix Analysis Framework notes, Sept. 2023

AWVN Job Handbook Producing literary organizations, additional appendix Indexing wage structure CaoTD, July 2023

FairPACCT Chain Table Literature organizations fair pay practice tool 2:
‘Standard regulation of fringe benefits for producing literary organizations: literary festivals, manifestations and literary-educational institutions. Final Version, December 2023.’

(Please note that the above Standard Regulation Secondary Employment Conditions refers to the final practice instrument; it includes the recalibrated zzp surcharge rates).

Review of consultation

One reaction concerned the low grading for management positions in the draft “Job Manual for Producing Arts Organizations. The Ketentafel Letterenorganisaties c.s. together with AWVN in principle follow within this manual as much as possible the Collective Bargaining Agreement for Theatre and Dance. This collective agreement distinguishes between the classification of an artistic or business director and organizations with an annual turnover up to approximately € 2 million and those with an annual turnover above that amount. Partly in view of specific recommendations of HTH Research and developments elsewhere in culture, the chain table sets this limit at € 1.2 million, price level 2025.

Another reaction concerned the limited self-employment percentage in the draft “Standard Regulations on Secondary Conditions of Employment for Producing Literary Organizations. The chain table basically follows the recommendations on digiPACCT. However, these apply particularly to side-by-side self-employed persons. Moreover, higher percentages have recently been proposed for 3 other chain tables by independent researchers. The chain table wants to take a closer look at all this and will come up with a final percentage by January 1.

Looking ahead to additional activities

As reported, the guideline on starting rates for performing/commissioning authors and artists comes up for consultation as of today, Dec. 1. The chain table intends to discuss its findings before the end of the year for a final verdict. The latter also applies to the zzp surcharge rate for the benefit of working people. After processing the consultation, the chain table wrote a letter to the state secretary of OCW on Nov. 22, with a copy to the Literature Fund. In it, the table reports that the national fair pay survey of November 16 and the fair pay parliamentary letter by the state secretary of November 20 logically have not yet taken into account the fair pay practice instruments of the chain table. According to a recent calculation by VLAM21 these lead to a structural cost increase of € 600,000 per 2025 for the long-term subsidized producing arts organizations, while only half of this amount has been allocated by the government for this purpose.

The chain table further states the following in its letter. Fair payment of authors/artists by the multiyearly subsidized producing literary organizations is extremely important, but much more is needed to improve the position of writers. After all, income from performances and commissions at these literary festivals is only a fraction of authors’ sources of income. The chain table has therefore been aware from the beginning that a “second phase” is necessary in which publishers, bookstores, libraries and other organizations must also be involved in order to improve the position of writers on all fronts. It urges the Secretary of State to create the space and opportunities for such a follow-up process.

Learn more

FairPACCT chain table Literature organizations

(continue reading under the heading ‘current’ or ‘across the table’)

blank

Fair pay practical tool: Handreiking tariefventool voor zelfstandigen en opdrachtgevers in cultuureducatie en amateurkunst

30 November 2023

Design: Formfest, Graphic Happiness

Fair pay practice tool

The chain table Arts Professionals in Cultural Education and Amateur Arts of fairPACCT hereby presents the ‘Fee Tool Guide’. It contains 13 types of main activities and is intended for self-employed professionals in this cultural sub-sector and their clients, for whom no collective bargaining agreement applies. A separate excel file with financial background data is attached. The tables with consulting rates with self-employed surcharge and respectively including and excluding surcharge for additional work are also available as a separate appendix. A reference framework on existing collective bargaining agreements and guidelines plus an investigation into currently remunerated and non-remunerated work apply as specific foundations.

Practice tool:

SFM i.s.m. FairPACCT Ketentafel Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst fair pay practice tool: ‘Handreiking Tarieventool voor zelfstandige kunstprofessionals and their clients. Final version. November 2023.

Appendix 1 to fair pay practice tool, SFM Excel: ‘Financial Background Data. To Handreiking Tarieventool Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst. Final version. November 2023.’

Appendix 2 to fair pay practice tool, SFM ‘Tables of consulting rates with zzp surcharge, respectively excluding and including surcharge for additional work. To Guideline Tariff tool for cultural education and amateur art. Final version. November 2023.’

Specific coasters:

SFM Research: ‘Fair pay arts professionals in cultural education and amateur art. Reference framework of existing collective agreement positions, grading, hourly rates and rate guidelines. January 2023.’

SFM Survey report: ‘Uncompensated work. Focus on fair pay of arts professionals in cultural education and amateur art. September 2023.’

Review of consultation

One response concerned the rates for the main activity, “Providing workshops/training, coaching for and with teachers, other supervisors and boards. The consultee felt these were too low compared to those for the main activity of providing lessons. This response led to an increase in the fees for train the trainers and the like. Another response requested clarification of the position of those working within museum education. These include providing tours, lessons and workshops. These activities belong to the 13 main activities previously distinguished by the chain table; at one point this was made explicit. The other responses led to a few clarifications. FairPACCT is also sending another specific email message to those who responded.

Looking ahead to additional activities

In view of the implementation of the general Handreiking Tarieventool, the chain table is working on specific handbooks for the 13 main activities. The intention is that self-employed persons and their clients can see at a glance what the fair pay advisory rates are for them.

The chain table is aware that municipal subsidies in particular have been reduced substantially in recent years. It has therefore already addressed the Lower House in June 2023 with the letter “Necessity of local basic infrastructure and fair pay impulse for cultural education and amateur art” in copy to the State Secretary of OCW, IPO and VNG. There are current developments that could be an improvement. Such as the upcoming VNG proposition on securing culture at the local level. And the elaboration of the report “Towards repositioning.” that the IPO has already commissioned in November 2022 on provincial cultural policy. Furthermore, the National Amateur Arts Agreement envisioned by 2025 and the current pilots may be of positive significance.


National organizations such as Kunsten ’92, LKCA, Cultuurconnectie and the Creative Coalition incl. the Kunstenbond are important partners for the chain table to bring the relevance of cultural education and amateur art and the associated fair pay practice instruments into the limelight.

Learn more

FairPACCT chain table Arts Professionals in Cultural Education and Amateur Arts

(continue reading under the heading ‘current’ or ‘across the table’)

blank

Fair pay chain table proposals for Film/AV: respond now!

7 November 2023

Design: Grafisch Geluk

The chain table Film/AV cultural productions cast & crew cs (hereafter chain table Film/AV production) of fairPACCT hereby presents four fair pay proposals and asks for a response from all involved: response please by Friday, November 24. Please use the fill-in form to do so. It concerns a Framework of Terms, a Guideline for Safe and Healthy Work in the AV Sector, an Assignment Compass specially developed for the Film/AV production sector by Bureau Berenschot and a related recommendation for a ZZP starting rate guideline. The proposals are aimed at clients and contractors involved in producing audiovisual productions in the form of feature films, short films, documentaries, animation, series and innovative media productions. Feedback by fairPACCT and the chain table based on the responses received will take place in mid-December (this has since been moved to early 2024). The four proposals of the chain table are prerequisites for the next phase to translate them into manuals for application in practice.

Framework of terms AV Sector.

The chain table Film/AV production is a broad table. It includes representatives from the entire field: from producing broadcasters, producers, screenwriters and directors to all creative and technical professionals who are part of the cast & crew. Audiovisual productions in the form of feature films, short films, documentaries, animation, series and innovative media productions are funded purely on a project basis. Virtually all workers are self-employed. There are (still) no (collective) agreements on terms and conditions on which clients and contractor can lean. In September 2022, the chain table therefore started to draw up a Framework of Terms for the audiovisual sector. The purpose of this is to provide commonly used terms when negotiating contracts with a neutral definition. This way, clients and contractors are talking about the same thing when they use these terms in negotiations. This prevents misunderstandings and saves time; the negotiation time can thus be used to flesh out these terms. The Framework of Terms includes 300 general and legal terms with definitions and has been checked by De Koning Vergouwen Advocaten.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 1: ‘Framework of terms AV sector_ version 1.0-20231103

Guideline for Safe and Healthy Work AV Sector

The second tool of the chain table Film/AV production concerns a Guideline for Safe and Healthy Work in the Audiovisual Sector. This Guide includes basic principles intended to ensure the physical and psychosocial safety of contractors involved in making professional audiovisual productions. The basic principles will be translated into a safety policy and plan, which will be tailored to the specific characteristics of a production and applied through mutual working agreements. The basic principles only apply to those days or parts of days on which work must be carried out for a certain period of time and at a certain location in order to carry out the assignment and for which coordination and planning by the client is required. The chain table Film/AV production assumes that the starting points will have a normative effect and become part of the negotiation process. They provide a basis for reaching clear agreements when entering into an agreement where such a basis is currently lacking. The emphasis in the Guideline version 1.0 is on the shooting period of an audiovisual production and its preparation and completion. In a new version of the Guide we will see if additional principles can be added for different types of productions and other phases in the realization of an audiovisual production.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 2: ‘Guide to Safe and Healthy Work AV Sector_version 1.0-20231103

Assignment Compass AV sector

The third tool is an Assignment Compass. This technical tool was developed by Bureau Berenschot in cooperation with the chain table to arrive at minimum hourly rates, or starting rates, for freelancers. Using the Assignment Compass as a guide, you can classify the combination of tasks and activities of an assignment for each audiovisual production. As a first step, the chain table identified and briefly described the various functions (some 200) in the development, pre-production, production and post-production phases. These were then classified into subject areas. Within 13 subject areas, Bureau Berenschot conducted at least two interviews with contractors with different job functions. For these reference assignments, Bureau Berenschot wrote specific norm texts and classified them at the corresponding level (Band A to K) in the Assignment Compass. A number of derived descriptions of tasks and activities were then prepared and classified within each subject area. The reference assignments (green boxes) and derived descriptions (blue boxes) are intended as benchmarks. By looking at these as well as the level indicators, you can also classify other assignments.

NOTES. The Assignment Compass is currently formatted in excel but will be converted to a digital module in the next phase.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 3: ‘Assignment Compass AV sector_version 1.0-20231103

Starting rates guideline AV industry

Using the Assignment Compass as a classification tool, Bureau Berenschot has developed a fourth tool with input from the chain table. This concerns the advice ‘From wage to ZZP starting rate’ with a proposal for minimum hourly rates (starting rates) applicable to a beginner in each of the 11 levels (band A to K) in the Assignment Kompas. Given the wishes of the Council for Culture and State Secretary Gunay Uslu of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, a comparison was made with incomes in adjacent sectors. In this case, these are the collective agreement for Broadcasting Personnel and the collective agreement for Theatre and Dance. The averages were taken from these. The results have been tested against the so-called BV Nederland. The starting rates roughly consist of two parts: a basic hourly rate and a ZZP surcharge percentage. The starting rates (reference date July 2023) are based on 1686 net deployable hours (i.e. excluding vacations and weekdays) and about 1350 billable hours per year. Bureau Berenschot recommends that the indexation of the basic hourly rate be aligned (annually) with the average level of indexation of the adjacent collective bargaining agreements. In the next phase, the application of the starting rates will be translated into practical guides.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 4: ‘From Wage to ZZP starting rate_v4.3.1-20231018

Specific handouts for application in practice necessary

The chain table agrees with the four currently presented tools. However, it wishes to state explicitly that they do not tell the whole financial story. After delivery of these four conditional tools for fair practice and fair pay, the chain table will therefore start translating them for application in practice. For how do you use a starting rate and a Reference Assignment in the Assignment Compass to arrive at the valuation of a specific assignment in one of the departments of an audiovisual production? After all, in the audiovisual sector, many work with a daily rate that includes preparation and completion time or with a lump sum fee for an entire assignment or an amount for a script version. Aspects such as cancellation or the period in which a contractor must keep himself available also play a role, or the use of his own equipment. The amount of compensation for ”flexicurity” must also be identified. An agency will be engaged to collect (detailed) information from all trade union constituencies using a compact survey. Given all this, the chain table will produce specific manuals for each cluster of trades before the summer of 2024. Eventually the four tools already developed as well as the manuals will be published on a central platform and agreements will be made about a point of contact, monitoring and evaluation.

Financial position stakeholders

Audiovisual productions in the form of feature films, short films, documentaries, animation, series and innovative media productions are financed on a project-by-project basis in the various stages of their creation. This differs substantially from other cultural subsectors where it mainly involves support for the work of individual artists or (multi-year) support for institutions. Self-employed people and companies in the film production sector work together in constantly changing compositions on a specific production. These include self-employed people such as directors, screenwriters, crew and cast as well as companies from producers, animation studios, post-production companies and suppliers. For each production, a producer raises specific funding through public and private parties such as funds, distributors, sales agents, broadcasters, streaming services, investors and co-producers. The project-based method of financing and its frameworks leave little room for building resilience.

The national government has €34.1 million structurally available for fair pay in the cultural and creative sector from 2025. In view of this, a national study is currently underway, commissioned by Kunsten ’92, into the fair pay additional costs for organizations that are subsidized by the national government and the state cultural funds for a number of years. This will also provide an indication of the additional costs for sub-sectors that receive project-based subsidies, such as the film sector. Using the fair pay chain table tools and further data from the Netherlands Film Fund, the additional costs for audiovisual productions will be calculated even more precisely in a follow-up study in early 2024, using a number of cases, among other things. In all of this, the financial cooperation of subsidizers and all private and commercial financiers involved is required to actually realize fair pay.

The Film Fund acts as a partner in and co-financier of this track.

___________________________________________________________________________

Download the entry form here*:

Fill-in form

* Please email the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl no later than Nov. 24.

___________________________________________________________________________

Read on about what preceded:

Brief history

After an exploration, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council released the advisory report “Passion Valued” in 2017. The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, they noted. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on this, a Labor Market Agenda appeared in 2017 with three spearheads: structural social dialogue, strengthening earning capacity, improving working conditions. Also, the Fair Practice Code emerged with three principles: fair pay, fair share, fair chain.

Specific preliminary research

Film/AV is one of the five cultural subsectors where the situation is most worrisome financially and for which a concretization of the fair pay principle was considered necessary by the Ministry of OCW in any case. HTH Research therefore commissioned Platform ACCT in March 2021 to produce the report ‘Better Terms and Conditions of Employment in the Cultural and Creative Sector. A Proposal for Follow-up Steps 2021-2024’ presented. In summary, this proposal reads as follows:

  1. Research
    A survey (interviews, polling) among the various groups of workers about earning power, terms of employment and working conditions, specifically also the need for and possibly fulfillment of a (rate) guideline.
  2. Awareness
    – 2.1. Understand and share information about the financial side of the film sector. For example: chart the actual costs (and hours spent) of a few productions and share them sector-wide. Or: organize sessions on topics such as terms of employment. Following the example of the NFF extended sessions on recoupment (in 2019).
    – 2.2. Have work processes of scriptwriters, financiers and producers better/more often aligned. There could be more experimentation with, for example, a showrunner, involving production in scriptwriting, involving scriptwriters in budget preparation.
  3. Development/Dialogue
    – 3.1. Creating a framework of terms: what do working parties need to agree on, and what do used terms mean in the sector? Share framework of concepts with sector parties, make it a shared framework.
    – 3.2. Based on research conducted and feedback on the concept framework, hourly or daily rates (minimums per type of production) for film crew members can be chosen.

Program fairPACCT and composition chain table Film/AV production

Platfom ACCT’s three-year fairPACCT program began as of 2022 with the help of OCW grant to concretize fair pay. The Film/AV Production Chain Table started in September 2022. It currently consists of 20 members, some of whom represent multiple unions: Fourteen workers’ representatives (Arts Union, FNV Media & Culture, Fine Weekend, DDG, Authors Union, Screenwriters Network, DPA, NCE, NSC, VCA, ACM, PNN, ACT and NAA) and six workers’ representatives (NAPA, NCP, NPO and CvO). Doreen Boonekamp, director and independent consultant in the cultural and creative sector, is independent chair.

Goal note chain table October 2022

In October 2022, the chain table adopted a goal statement. It focuses on all those involved in cultural productions in Film/AV in the form of feature films, short films, documentaries, animation, series and innovative media productions. Since workers involved in these productions are almost exclusively self-employed, the Chain Table focuses on the contractor-client relationship. The short-term goals are to draw up a framework of terms and to formulate job categories with descriptions for each job. Furthermore, in view of the conceptual framework with definitions and the various job descriptions, making proposals about the valuation/honoring of jobs and about amounts for e.g. hourly, daily and/or lump-sum rates, taking into account possible negative side-effects. These goals were worked out in November 2023 in the form of four fay pay proposals. In the meantime, the proposals were also discussed with sounding board groups of experts and financiers. In the first half of 2024, the proposals will be further refined through handouts for each cluster. Attention will then also be paid to the medium-term goals, focusing on implementation, structural social dialogue, safeguarding and enforcement.

Learn more

Completion form (You can mail the completion form back to us no later than November 24 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl)

FairPACCT chain table Film/AV (read more under the ‘current’ or ‘about the table’ section)

blank

Ten concrete proposals for fair pay in culture: respond now!

20 October 2023

Photo: Shutterstock

“For years it remained fairly quiet around the fair pay component. This will change as of now.”

Give your opinion on the proposals with ten new practice tools aimed at fair payment in the cultural and creative sector before they become final? You can: from now on the big consultation has started. Let us hear from you via the input form preferably before Wednesday, November 1 and at the latest before Wednesday, November 15. We will feedback together with our chain tables before December 1.

Call by advisory councils on earning power and guidelines

The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council noted back in 2017. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on that, a Labor Market Agenda came into being and the Fair Practice Code came into being. But for years it remained fairly quiet around the fair pay component. This will change as of now.

Five subsectors addressed first and now 10 work-field chain tables

After further research, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science initially identified five subsectors where the fair pay need is highest and for which practical instruments should therefore be put in place quickly. All the more so because there is no collective bargaining agreement to cover them and there is no organized consultation between employees and workers. These are archaeology, cultural education/amateur art, film/av, freelance music, and the arts.

Platform ACCT has received three years of government funding for the fairPACCT program since 2022.
As part of this program, ten chain tables from the professional field, together with independent (preliminary) researchers, have set to work on criteria plus concrete practical instruments for fair payment. Moreover, given the perspective of the Council for Culture and the State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science, adjacent sectors have always been studied. Two new chain tables are planned for November 1.

Fair pay mandatory for grant applicants at state level

Fair pay must in any case be concretely implemented by institutions that receive cultural subsidies from the state or state funds, the Court of Audit recently determined. The State Secretary considers this important and has included provisions about it in the Subsidy Scheme for Cultural Basic Infrastructure 2025-2028. Among other things, she refers to the products of the Chain Tables and holds out the prospect of financial compensation for the subsidized field. The distribution will be based on the upcoming results of a national survey. The organizations involved can submit their grant applications starting next December 1. It has also called on other governments and private funds to impose similar fair pay conditions. In view of all this, the Performing Arts Fund was the first national cultural fund to announce on October 16 that it will make fair pay an obligatory condition in its schemes for multi-year production and festival subsidies: applicants must demonstrably apply a (related) collective agreement or guideline.

An overview of the current ten fair pay chain table proposals

Seven fairPACCT chain tables, which began in 2022, are now ready to present concrete products. Ten fair pay proposals are currently on the table.
These include fees for freelance classical musicians in seven professional practices, and for pop musicians there is a calculation tool to measure the previously proposed fees for live performances against five career stages. There are rate guidelines for the various activities of art professionals in cultural education and amateur art such as teachers, conductors and others. For the benefit of those working at literary festivals and events, a job manual with primary and a standard regulation with secondary employment conditions has been created.

The breadth of the field has also been carefully considered. For example, archaeologists are among
the lowest paid. Partly on the basis of a new Labor Market Monitor, they now have proposals for secondary employment conditions. There is also a draft job matrix,
which will be developed with the help of a recognized job evaluation agency.

In some professions, especially during and after the corona period, there appeared to be an increasing outflow to other sectors such as marketing and communications. For this reason, a Manifesto and a Whitepaper on the value of cultural marketers are now appearing. In the run-up to a directive, there is also an overview with characterizations of their five job levels and a comparison of remuneration in the cultural sector compared to the Netherlands.

More fair pay proposals in October and two new chain tables by November

Film/av is still working on four practice tools, expected during October this year. A Framework of Terms for Contracts between Workers and Clients, a Guideline for Safe and Healthy Working, an Assignment Compass and a report From Wage to zzp Rate. A rate guideline for performing authors and artists at literary festivals and events is also due in October.

Furthermore, given the current situation and issues, the following new chain tables were recently started: digital culture; photography; music jazz/world/impro. Starting in November, the film festivals will be added, while the fees section of BKNL visual artists will continue as a chain table at fairPACCT from that date. Some other subsectors that have registered with us will unfortunately have to wait a little longer for their chain table.

Read on and let’s hear from you

Below is a link to the individual chain tables for the details of their activities and to the ten concrete fair pay proposals. Below you will also see the fill-in form for your response and any questions, which you can e-mail back preferably before November 1 and no later than November 15 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl. Then, by December 1, our public feedback will come together with the chain tables.


Fill-in form

Fair pay proposals chain table Pop musicians

Fair pay proposals chain table Literature organizations

Fair pay proposals chain table Archaeology

Fair pay proposals chain table Culture Marketing and Communications

Fair pay proposals chain table Freelance Classical Musicians

Fair pay proposals chain table Arts Professionals in Cultural Education and Amateur Arts

 

blank

Fair pay chain table proposals Freelance Classical Musicians: respond now!

20 October 2023

Design: Grafisch Geluk

The chain table Freelance Classical Musicians of fairPACCT hereby presents its fair pay proposals and requests a response from all interested parties: preferably by Wednesday, November 1, 2023 and no later than Wednesday, November 15. Please use the form below to do so. This is a report starting rates with outcomes of instrument development and a rate tool. Feedback by fairPACCT and the chain table based on the responses received will be done by December 1.

Reporting and pricing tool

The chain table’s proposals are based on research and development by Bureau KNYFE. On behalf of and in close cooperation with the chain table, KNYFE made an analysis of the various professional practices within which freelance classical musicians operate. Thus, seven categories are described, namely:

  1. Orchestra or choir, more than 16 people
  2. Ensemble or choir, between 8 and 16 people
  3. Chamber music, 8 people or less
  4. Accompaniment of choir or soloist in orchestral form
  5. Performing as a soloist with choir or orchestra
  6. Performing as a soloist or duo
  7. Studio recordings

The report further describes fair practice in the context of this profession. In order to arrive at fair rates, a comparison was made with thirteen adjacent collective bargaining agreements. Relevant HBO salary scales were taken as a starting point and translated with a zzp surcharge into an hourly starting rate. In addition, a survey was conducted among the profession about the average time spent on (generally) paid and unpaid activities within the various professional practices. Weighting factors were determined for various more or less aggravating aspects of the distinguished professional practices. These ingredients were incorporated into a calculation tool that indicates for each professional practice what fair rate should apply, per hour and for the entire activity. The findings of the chain table can help in an exploratory national reckoning. But because collective figures are lacking, and professional practice has many variations, the gap cannot be translated exactly into a national deficit for fair pay. However, it can be said that a large proportion of freelance musicians with an HBO degree are working below the minimum wage level.

For consultation:

Final Report Starting Rates Chain Table Freelance Classical Musicians (Outcomes Instrument Development Fair Practice for Freelance Classical Musicians), KNYFE, October 2023.

Calculating tool fair pay for Freelance Classical Musicians

Letter of presentation

The participants of the chain table Freelance Classical Musicians recognize and acknowledge the outcomes of the report and instruments that KNYFE has produced in its assignment. The table sees its concerns about too little fair pay confirmed and values making it clear to third parties that there are also major concerns in the implementation, safeguarding and especially affordability of the developed standards. To provide further interpretation and context to KNYFE’s report, the chain table prepared a letter of offer. The letter is also a call to the sector to provide inspiring responses and examples.

To be noted:

Response of the Chain Table Freelance Classical Musicians to the Final Report on Starting Rates. Tools for fair pay, Bureau KNYFE, October 2023.

___________________________________________________________________________

Download the entry form here*:

Fill-in form

* Please e-mail the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl preferably by Nov. 1 and no later than Nov. 15.

___________________________________________________________________________

Read on about what preceded:

Brief history

After an exploration, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council released the advisory report “Passion Valued” in 2017. The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, they noted. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on this, a Labor Market Agenda appeared in 2017 with three spearheads: structural social dialogue, strengthening earning capacity, improving working conditions. Also, the Fair Practice Code emerged with three principles: fair pay, fair share, fair chain.

Outline of professional practice

The classical music sector has two collective bargaining agreements, that for Dutch orchestras (also for remplacants) and recently for music ensembles. The latter collective agreement is in a growth phase and cannot yet be paid for by most ensembles. The Chain Table’s target group moves into the extensive “free” circuit outside these collective bargaining areas. Freelance classical musicians are encountered in all sorts of places in society. At large and small events, choral and orchestral performances in the professional circuit and (as a professional accompanist in) the amateur circuit, private concerts and corporate performances. At your home, at the nursing home or the theater, at the concert hall or the church around the corner.

Music is in the capillaries of our society and has an enormous impact on well-being, welfare and prosperity. Expressed in terms of remuneration, appreciation for these professionals lags behind professions of comparable (social) importance. Think of healthcare and education. This is not about feelings but numbers. However, a good substantiation of a rate that does justice to their work was never available. This is where the chain table freelance classical musicians has now made great strides.

Specific preliminary research

All in all, this is one of the five cultural subsectors where the situation is most worrisome financially and for which a concretization of the fair pay principle was considered necessary in any case. Following an earlier preliminary study in 2020, Bureau HTH therefore presented in February 2021, commissioned by Platform ACCT, the preliminary study ‘Better Terms and Conditions of Employment in the Cultural and Creative Sector. A Proposal for Follow-up Steps 2021-2024.’ For freelance musicians, this included the following practice tools: Calculate and show what performances/concerts cost and benefit all parties. Also outline the cost of payment to all musicians according to collective bargaining agreements, e.g. the collective bargaining agreement for music ensembles. Develop (as a start) as simple a fee guideline as possible, e.g. a simple daily rate, rate per performance/concert, etc. Bureau HTH further suggests a solidarity fund between musicians.

Program fairPACCT and composition Chain Table from 2022 onward

The three-year program fairPACCT of Platfom ACCT started in 2021 with the help of OCW grant to concretize fair pay. The Chain Table Freelance Classical Musicians started in June 2022 and is composed of a total of 14 (representatives of) musicians, impresarios, ensembles, festivals and venues. Participating musician representatives are the Kunstenbond, Platform voor Freelance Musici and FNV Media & Cultuur. No good representation was found on the part of work providers/clients in the sector. Appealing to personal authority and expertise, directors and programmers were selected and invited to participate in the Chain Table. Program manager fairPACCT Noud van de Rhee chaired the table.

At its inception, the chain table drafted an ambition document and formulated its objective as follows:

  • gain an understanding of the various common professional practices within the profession and the time commitment for each type of activity;
  • mirror the remuneration of this effort to the income of comparable college graduates;
  • and distilling from this a guideline for fair pay.

Learn more

Completion form (You can e-mail the completion form back preferably before November 1 and no later than November 15 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl)

FairPACCT chain table Freelance Classical Musicians (read more under the heading ‘current’ or ‘about the table’)

blank

Fair pay chain table proposals for archaeology: respond now!

20 October 2023

Design: Grafisch Geluk

FairPACCT’s Chain Table on Archaeology hereby presents two fair pay proposals and asks for a response from all stakeholders: preferably by Wednesday, November 1, 2023 and no later than Wednesday, November 15. Please use the form below to do so. These are a pilot for a Job House and a Standard Regulation on fringe benefits. These are primarily intended for companies and organizations without a collective bargaining agreement, but they may also provide leads for other work providers.
Feedback by fairPACCT and the chain table based on the responses received will be done by December 1.

Test for a Job House

Many archaeologists work in salaried employment (with the exception of the specialists, many of whom are self-employed) and the payment to them is often moderate, according to general research. However, specific data are not collected periodically nationwide. The chain table therefore commissioned a new Labor Market Monitor among employed people by Femke Tomas, lecturer/researcher at Saxion University of Applied Sciences. She also commissioned Marbles to make an inventory of the archaeological jobs and salaries at five types of workplaces: three large businesses, two small businesses, the municipality, the environmental service and the engineering firm. Based on this there is now from the chain table a proof of a Job House with an overview of the current income per hour. It involves five main categories, each with three types of functions: employee, project leader, (material) specialist, depot manager, consultant. FairPACCT and the chain table are in the process of engaging a recognized job evaluation agency in order to produce an official Job House with descriptions, ratings and grading.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 1: ‘Proof of a Function House for Archaeology. September 2023.’

Standard fringe benefit plan

For the purposes of secondary employment conditions, the chain table started by identifying the legal provisions. In addition, many sectors of archaeology can be described as related. For this reason, the Chain Table made a detailed comparison with the provisions of four collective bargaining agreements: Municipalities; Construction and Infrastructure; Green, Land and Infrastructure; Forest and Nature. The chain table also studied the old revoked CLA of an archaeology company that is a privatized part of the central government. On the basis of all this it has produced a Standard Regulation, which contains general recommendations to all companies and organizations without a collective bargaining agreement in this sub-sector as well as considerations for individual assessment per company or organization. The table is still working on a memorandum specifically for self-employed workers. It is also considering a separate guideline for (social) safety.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 2: ‘Standard arrangement for secondary terms and conditions of employment in archaeology. September 2023.’

Financial incentives for fair pay necessary

In February 2022, the Council for Culture advocated a collective bargaining agreement for excavation companies and a new professional organization for archaeologists. In her policy response of November 2022, the State Secretary of OCW considers the Council’s CAO advice to be advice to the sector. According to her, the latter also applies to the choice of whether or not to set up a professional organization. Nevertheless, she believes that a well-organized sector has clear added value, not only for the functioning of the labor market. Therefore, she has allocated (start-up) funds for three years to strengthen the sector organization. She further states to encourage social dialogue through fairPACCT. But fairPACCT and the chain table hope for more financial incentives from the state for archaeological work, which is currently not subsidized at all. Just as these have been put in place for fair pay in the publicly subsidized parts of the cultural sector. In addition, the state can set an example in its tenders aimed at a fair price and fair pay.

___________________________________________________________________________

Download the entry form here*:

Fill-in form

* Please e-mail the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl preferably by Nov. 1 and no later than Nov. 15.

___________________________________________________________________________

Read on about what preceded:

Brief history

After an exploration, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council released the advisory report “Passion Valued” in 2017. The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, they noted. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on this, a Labor Market Agenda appeared in 2017 with three spearheads: structural social dialogue, strengthening earning capacity, improving working conditions. Also, the Fair Practice Code emerged with three principles: fair pay, fair share, fair chain.

Legal provisions without compensation for companies and organizations

The Heritage Act (and predecessors) has many provisions. For example, only companies or (government) organizations with a national certificate may conduct excavations at archaeologically protected monuments and areas. There are also guidelines that ensure that certain operations are reserved only for high-quality actors/archaeologists. In addition, based on the General Administrative Law Act (as of January 1, the Environment Act), concrete investigations and excavations, usually require local environmental permits. However, there are no government funds for the high costs that may be involved in the legal provisions. Even state compensation to municipalities for excessive excavation costs in special cases disappeared entirely in 2012. On top of this, many governments keep the price very low in their own tenders for archaeological investigations, excavations and the like. These market forces ensure that there are almost no profit margins for the businesses and organizations involved, so that fair pay for workers, among other things, is difficult to achieve.

Specific preliminary investigations

With a grant from the Ministry of OCW, Platform ACCT commissioned the preliminary study “Archaeologists, terms of employment and working conditions in the Netherlands” by HTH Research in December 2020. It took place as part of the evaluation of the Heritage Act. Followed in March 2021 by the report ‘Better Terms of Employment and Working Conditions in the Cultural and Creative Sector. A Proposal for Follow-up Steps 2021-2024.’ The recommendations were as follows. Repeat surveys in the form of a Labor Market Monitor, preferably part of the Heritage Monitor. Conversations with vulnerable groups about their labor market position and needs. Put on the agenda, among other things, in the evaluation of the Erfgoedwer the effect of market forces on the labor market position. An overview or benchmark of the terms of employment and working conditions offered at excavation companies. Investigate the feasibility of a collective labor agreement for archaeology (and how it should be implemented). Draw up rate guidelines with minimum or standard rates for self-employed archaeologists. Create support. Security and enforcement to be determined later.

Program fairPACCT and composition Chain Table from 2022 onward

Platfom ACCT’s three-year fairPACCT program has begun as of 2022 with the help of OCW funding to concretize fair pay. The Archaeology Chain Table started in March 2022. It currently consists of ten members: four general workers, two specialists, a representative of a vocational school, two companies and an employment agency. Henk Koster, a.o. director of the Infrastructure Quality Assurance Soil Management Foundation, is independent chairman.

Current Labor Market Monitor for Archaeology

Currently, as recommended in the HTH preliminary study, the Chain Table is presenting a current Labor Market Monitor. It is the report ‘Inventory of Working Conditions in Archaeology. Based on a survey of the profession.’ by Femke Tomas, lecturer/researcher at Saxion University of Applied Sciences. For the sake of completeness, it should be stated in advance that archaeologists have an HBO or WO education.

Work field data
The survey with 416 respondents (a quarter of the estimated population) and five in-depth interviews revealed the following vulnerable groups among the employed:
– Respondents without a CLA. They also earn relatively less than respondents with a CAO and are less satisfied with their advancement opportunities and hours.
– Young archaeologists. They earn relatively less, are (obviously) less likely to have actor status, and are more likely to have temporary contracts.
– Women. They have temporary contracts slightly more often than men and earn relatively less than men. It also appears that women are more likely to drop out or not start work in archaeology.
– People with disabilities. Alumni with disabilities make up a smaller percentage of the labor market in archaeology.

It should be added that the average gross hourly wage of the archaeological field is significantly lower than the average gross hourly wage in the Netherlands until about 45 years of age.

Recommendations to the Chain Table
The respondents have a clear preference for a CLA, provided that the advantages/disadvantages for the various groups are clearly identified and clearly communicated. They advocated taking inspiration from other collective labor agreements, such as the collective labor agreement for construction and infrastructure, the collective labor agreement for green space, soil and infrastructure, and looking at the terms of employment in adjacent fields, such as soil and subsoil, as well as the collective labor agreement for the government.

In a collective bargaining agreement, consider pension accrual, compensation for long travel time and working in harsh conditions. Respondents would also like to see consideration in fringe benefits for a work car, home work allowance, higher mileage allowance, travel time as work time, training, reimbursement for intern/residence, physical therapy, overtime, number of vacation days and senior days.

It was also noted that there seems to be a negative price spiral in the archaeological field within the current market forces. This is related to working conditions and the quality of the archaeological research/product to be delivered.

Suggested:
– To determine what are commercially fair prices, look to adjacent disciplines, such as within earth sciences, environmental health research or the soil sector.
– Agree on a percentage of the construction cost.
– Investigate the possibility of market-correcting agreements.

Finally, the respondents also drew attention to the low wages and the many temporary and 0-hour contracts. Also introduce a benchmark by archaeological businesses, the introduction of rates for self-employed workers and, of course, the collective bargaining agreement, if any. Draw up a job matrix for archaeology.

To be noted:

”F. Tomas, lecturer/researcher Hogeschool Saxion, Inventory of working conditions in archaeology. Based on a survey of the profession. June 2023′

Idem, Appendix 1. Final standard questionnaire labor monitors archaeology

Idem, Appendix 2. Questionnaire survey labor market conditions archaeology 2022-2023

Idem, Appendix 3. Results Research Working Conditions Archaeology ACCT details

Idem, Appendix 4. Chain Table Archaeology project plan inventory working conditions

Learn more

Completion form (You can e-mail the completion form back preferably before November 1 and no later than November 15 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl)

FairPACCT chain table Archaeology (read more under the heading ‘current’ or ‘about the table’)

blank

Fair pay chain table proposals for literary organizations: respond now!

20 October 2023

Design: Grafisch Geluk

The chain table of literary organizations of fairPACCT is hereby presenting two fair pay proposals and asking for a response from all stakeholders: preferably by Wednesday, November 1, 2023 and no later than Wednesday, November 15. Please use the fill-in form below. These are a Job Handbook and a Standard Regulations on Fringe Benefits. These are intended primarily for literary festivals, events and literary-educational institutions. Feedback by fairPACCT and the chain table based on the responses received will be done by December 1.

Job Manual

The chain table has chosen to graft the primary terms of employment onto the adjoining CLA for Theatre and Dance including the accompanying Job Handbook. This was created by the AWVN agency in relation to the national ORBA job classification model. The Nederlandse Associatie voor Podiumkunsten/NAPK, following input from the Kunstenbond, gave permission to the Chain Table to work with AWVN to convert this into a Job Manual including grading for literary festivals, events and literary-educational institutions. The Chain Table immediately reported generally useful reference functions to this agency at the start.

For consultation:

AWVN/FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 1: ‘Function manual for producing literary organizations: literary festivals, events and literary-educational institutions. July, supplemented September 2023.’

AWVN Job Handbook Producing literary organizations, additional appendix Analysis Framework notes, Sept. 2023

AWVN Job Handbook Producing literary organizations, additional appendix Indexing wage structure CaoTD, July 2023

Standard fringe benefit plan

For the benefit of the fringe benefits, the first step was to identify the statutory provisions. The chain table also made a detailed comparison with the provisions in the collective labor agreement for theater and dance and in the collective labor agreement for municipalities. On this basis it has produced a Standard Regulation, which contains general recommendations to all organizations in this sub-sector as well as considerations for individual assessment per organization.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 2: ‘Standard arrangement of fringe benefits for producing literary organizations: literary festivals, events and literary-educational institutions. September 2023.’

Guideline starting rates for performing authors/artists in the works

The chain table is still working on a rate guideline. There is a draft report “Guideline Starting Rates for Performing Authors. Exploration, Calculation Model and Checklist for Literary Festivals, Events and Literary Educational Institutions.’ from the agencies HTH/PPMC. The chain table is currently doing further research for detailing. It hopes to finish this around November 1: so the public reaction to it will start only from that date. Further notice will follow.

Financial position of organizations involved

For the literary festivals, events and literary-educational institutions, one organization receives a BIS subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and 13 others receive a multiyear subsidy from the Literature Fund. The government has promised fair pay compensation. The organizations involved are often small and have little budgetary leeway. They often also, and sometimes even purely, receive grant money from municipalities in particular: in order to actually make fair pay possible, the other authorities will therefore have to be prepared to also make an extra financial contribution to their additional costs.

___________________________________________________________________________

Download the entry form here*:

Fill-in form

* Please e-mail the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl preferably by Nov. 1 and no later than Nov. 15.

___________________________________________________________________________

Read on about what preceded:

Brief history

After an exploration, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council released the advisory report “Passion Valued” in 2017. The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, they noted. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on this, a Labor Market Agenda appeared in 2017 with three spearheads: structural social dialogue, strengthening earning capacity, improving working conditions. Also, the Fair Practice Code emerged with three principles: fair pay, fair share, fair chain.

Specific preliminary research

Letters is one of the five subsectors where the fair pay situation is most worrisome and for which specific preliminary studies for improvement have been done. Bureau HTH did so on behalf of the VLAM21 partnership in February 2022. It contains the following observations in “Fair Pay at Literary Organizations. A survey of sixteen organizations for literary events and activities’. They are generally small institutions, one is in the BIS and thirteen others receive subsidies from the Literature Fund and others. There is no sector-specific collective bargaining agreement. The ‘permanent staff’ always comes last in terms of payment and authors/artists, who have few complaints, first. HTH makes some proposals for better working conditions and advocates a rate guideline for performing authors et al.

Composition of chain table

VLAM21 asked fairPACCT to develop the preliminary research with the help of a Chain Table from the field. The table began in July 2022 and consists of 13 participants: a number of literary festivals, manifestations and literary-educational institutions, the Arts Union and the Authors’ Union, as well as the Reading Foundation and the Writers’ Center, when asked, have joined in. Sylvia Dornseiffer, previously director of the Literature Fund, among others, is independent chair.

Comparison with adjacent sectors

On the advice of the Council for Culture and the State Secretary of OCW, the chain table first made a comparison with adjacent sectors. To this end, HTH had already identified six collective bargaining agreements in its preliminary study, including those of the central government and municipalities, as a point of orientation for subsidizers. The chain table focused in particular on the Cao for Theatre and Dance. Also explicitly discussed was the (in 2023 updated) Job and Wage Guideline of the Presentation Institutions Visual Arts. Furthermore, the fringe benefits of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for Municipalities were studied in more detail.

Learn more

Completion form (You can e-mail the completion form back preferably before November 1 and no later than November 15 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl)

FairPACCT chain table Literature organizations (read more under the heading ‘current’ or ‘about the table’)

blank

Fair pay chain table proposals for marketing and communications: respond now!

20 October 2023

Design: Grafisch Geluk

The Culture Marketing and Communications chain table of fairPACCT is hereby presenting three fair pay proposals and asking for a response from all stakeholders: preferably by Wednesday, November 1, 2023 and no later than Wednesday, November 15. Please use the form below to do so. These are a Manifesto on the value of cultural marketers and a Whitepaper with seven related practical examples. Also involved is a comparison of MarCom functions in culture with those in the BV Nederland. Feedback by fairPACCT and the chain table based on the responses received will be done by December 1.

Manifesto ‘Without culture marketers no audience. Without audiences no culture’

Herewith, the chain table presents its Manifesto, after thorough consultation and a final GO. This Manifesto with seven key points emphasizes the crucial role of marketing and communication for participants, cultural sector and society. Together, the president and members of the table want to draw attention to the impact their sector has had and will continue to have. This is a crucial step toward a brighter future for culture marketing and communications.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 1: ‘Manifesto. Without culture marketers no audience. Without audiences no culture. October 2023.’

Powerful and inspiring case studies in Whitepaper

The chain table’s white paper contains seven powerful and inspiring practical examples under the motto “From manifesto to reality. Network organization Culture Marketing has provided input to all of this. They show that marketing and communication in the cultural sector extend far beyond advertising campaigns and ticket sales. It is about promoting innovation, connecting and making culture accessible to everyone. The Whitepaper shows this impact concretely at a variety of organizations: theater company, concert hall, music venue/theater, national support institution, pop venue, museum, festival.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 2: ‘Whitepaper. From manifesto to reality. Seven powerful case studies on the impact of marketing and communications. October 2023.’

First comparison with five job levels between the BV Netherlands and the cultural sector

Based on a survey of self-employed workers, a reference framework from an independent researcher with cultural collective bargaining agreements and general national data, the chain table identified five job levels in marketing and communications. It has compared the remunerations used in the BV Nederland with those of the cultural sector. This shows that cultural collective agreements lag behind. Updating is necessary to stop outflow of workers in culture marketing and communication to other sectors.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 3: ‘Five function levels in culture marketing and communication. First comparison between the BV Netherlands and the cultural sector. September 2023.’

Toward innovative rate guidelines

The chain table has made great strides in defining existing rate guidelines with five job levels for different disciplines, but at the same time realizes that current cultural collective bargaining agreements are traditional and conservative. Therefore, the table is working on a new model to provide the cultural sector with appropriate guidelines that contribute to innovation. Among other things, this will be discussed in the chairmen’s meeting of the fairPACCT Chain Tables: after all, chain-wide working is crucial, especially for professionals in MarCom, to avoid fragmentation.

Engagement with social partners and other stakeholders

In April 2023, the independent study “Cultural Marketing and Communication in Fund and Project Grant Applications. How funds and grantmakers deal with cultural marketing and communication costs in project applications.’ published. Made on behalf of the chain table. This shows that targeted engagement of the chain table is needed to further explain the relevance, current developments and costs of culture marketing and communication. The Manifesto and Whitepaper are now the beginning of that. But discussions are also needed with social partners and other stakeholders, among other things in relation to the intended sectoral covenant on the implementation of fair pay. With the goal of drastically changing the cultural labor market and guaranteeing fair pay for supporting positions such as cultural marketers and others.

___________________________________________________________________________

Download the entry form here*:

Fill-in form

* Please e-mail the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl preferably by Nov. 1 and no later than Nov. 15.

___________________________________________________________________________

Read on about what preceded:

Brief history

After an exploration, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council released the advisory report “Passion Valued” in 2017. The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, they noted. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on this, a Labor Market Agenda appeared in 2017 with three spearheads: structural social dialogue, strengthening earning capacity, improving working conditions. Also, the Fair Practice Code emerged with three principles: fair pay, fair share, fair chain.

Survey of self-employed workers

Network organization Culture Marketing conducted a survey of marketing and communications professionals working as self-employed in the cultural sector in February 2022. 144 self-employed professionals answered the survey questions about hourly rates. Of these 144 respondents, a quarter worked for two years or less, half for between two and 10 years and another quarter for more than 10 years. The self-employed are involved in both executive and strategic assignments. Management and consulting are a lot less common. Marketers work mainly for the presenting and producing performing arts, festivals and museums. According to the respondents, the clients in particular have too little knowledge about what constitutes a market-based hourly rate:


“It is disproportionate in the cultural sector to what is paid for the same knowledge/expertise in other sectors. Furthermore, there is no consideration of experience in years, in other words, junior, medior or senior. For freelancers, everything is often scaled under one rate.” In addition, clients often do not move with the times: “To my feeling, for freelance cultural marketers, the market rate has been the same (€45-50) for almost a decade. It doesn’t seem to increase with inflation. Recently in the stage collective agreement there is a provision about zzp’ers and several clients seized on this with me to actually want to pay less than before that provision was there. They literally take the ‘at least’ 40% higher for zzp in 2021 as ‘exactly’ 40%.”
In addition, cultural institutions shift the problem of insufficient budgets to their contractors. As a result, the self-employed are expected to just conform to what they are offered: “Many clients say they don’t have a budget and want you to do something for free, at a friend’s price or for your own portfolio.”

Program fairPACCT and composition Chain Table from 2022 onward

Platfom ACCT’s three-year fairPACCT program began as of 2022 with the help of OCW funding to concretize fair pay. The Culture Marketing and Communication (MarCom) Chain Table started in October 2022. It currently consists of 12 members: six working professionals, five working professionals at various types of cultural organizations and a representative from a professional training program. Joan Nunnely, an expert in strategic personnel and talent management plus a city council member, among others, is independent chair. Hilde Smetsers of Culture Marketing functions as advisor.

Terms of reference for assignment work in cultural collective bargaining agreements

Soon after in December 2022, the Chain Table commissioned the report ‘Fair pay assignment work marketing and communications in the cultural sector. Reference framework for existing collective agreement jobs, grading, hourly rates.’ by independent research firm Social Finance Matters. Here, ten collective bargaining agreements were studied in the cultural fields of work in which workers are active according to the above survey. Because marketing and communications professionals outside the cultural sector work in virtually every industry, the report says it makes little sense to include collective bargaining agreements from entirely different sectors in the comparison. For a more general comparison, however, use was made of (broader) research by freelancer platform Jellow, on the remuneration position of self-employed professionals in marketing and communications. In particular, the researcher looked at types of jobs and work, forms of grading, level of salaries, zzp surcharge in hourly rates, relevant fees and intellectual property provisions.

Proceedings of funds and grant makers

In April 2023, as a follow-up to the Reference Framework, the SFM office, commissioned by the Chain Table, presented the report “Cultural Marketing and Communication in Fund and Project Grant Applications. How funds and grantmakers deal with cultural marketing and communication costs in project applications.’ This examined the practices of 17 funders and grantmakers: the six national cultural funds, six private cultural funds and seven governments, in addition to OCW especially municipalities and provinces about whom details had been reported. Relevant findings. Overhead/regular costs are often excluded. Also, marketing and communication are rarely explicitly mentioned in the formal criteria. The possibility of allocation to project activities is often unclear. The relationship between reimbursable cost types remains vague.


Conditions vary, hindering co-financing. Provisions on fees to be paid to MarCom professionals are lacking or are not substantiated. Interviews have shown that funders often expect that issues are already (partly) answered in the marketing plan to be sent along with an application. In general, funders do not consider it a positive signal if strategy development on marketing and communication is started only after the project has been launched. Furthermore, according to the researcher, it is good to realize that funds and subsidy providers view the role of MarCom professionals much more broadly than as ‘marketers’ of cultural products. A shift toward public outreach is evident among all the funders surveyed, in some cases with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion.

Learn more

Completion form (You can e-mail the completion form back preferably before November 1 and no later than November 15 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl)

FairPACCT chain table Culture Marketing and Communications (read more under the ‘current’ or ‘about the table’ section)

SFM Research: Fair pay assignment work Marketing and Communications cultural sector, Reference Framework for Collective Bargaining Agreements, Dec. 2022

SFM Research: Cost of Marketing and Communication Cultural Sector, Project Criteria by Funds and Governments, Apr. 2023

blank

Fair pay chain table proposals cultural education and amateur arts: respond now!

20 October 2023

Design: Grafisch Geluk

The chain table Arts Professionals in Cultural Education and Amateur Arts of fairPACCT hereby presents its fair pay proposals and requests a response from all interested parties: preferably by Wednesday, November 1, 2023 and no later than Wednesday, November 15. Please use the form below to do so. This is a ‘Handreiking Tarieventool’ with 13 types of main activities of art professionals, intended for the self-employed in this cultural sub-sector and their clients. Feedback by fairPACCT and the chain table based on the responses received will be done by December 1.

Guidance on Rate Tool

The chain table based its proposals on preliminary studies, a Reference Framework on (adjoining) collective agreements and guidelines plus a report with a Survey among workers about the time spent and the remuneration of their work. Given all this, there is now for consultation, provided with background data in excel, the ‘Handreiking Tarieventool voor zelfstandige kunstprofessionals en hun opdrachtgevers binnen cultuureducatie en amateurkunst.’ by bureau SFM in coordination with the chain table.

There is a broad field of work. These include teachers, consultants, coaches, conductors. With respect to assignments, the Handreiking Tarieventool distinguishes the following 13 types of main activities:

  • 1-3. Provide/escort for: amateur art rehearsals; performances, concerts and exhibitions;
    special rehearsals (such as dress rehearsals and tryouts) and auditions.
  • 4-6. Providing lessons: in schools (primary/secondary/special education, secondary, higher education);
    in leisure time (such as in centers for the arts, leisure education, theater, dance and music schools); to special target groups outside regular education (such as integration, status holders).
  • 7-8. Provide: childcare/out-of-school activities; workshops/training, coaching for and with teachers, other supervisors and boards.
  • 9. Creative production and composition of arrangements, including research, concept development, composition of choreography, scenario development.
  • 10. Material production of performances and exhibitions, including inventorying, preparing and purchasing materials, props, scenery, costumes.
  • 11. Preparation and participation activities festivals, summer camps and other vacation activities.
  • 12. Preparing/organizing schools’ cultural offerings (not teaching as such).
  • 13. Creation of teaching materials.

    For each type of main activity there are concrete fair pay proposals: based on the Reference Framework this concerns the criteria for the hourly rates and based on the Survey Report this concerns the calculation of all the activities belonging to an assignment. The general zzp surcharge for this subsector was determined by SFM at 83.27% on top of the comparable gross wage per type of main activity and considering, among other things, the actual number of hours to be worked by employees based on collective agreements. Furthermore, experience of the art professional and complexity of the assignment are weighting factors.

For consultation:

SFM/FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposals: ‘Fee tool guide for independent arts professionals and their clients. September 2023.’

To be noted:

SFM Excel: ‘Financial Background Data to Rate Tool. September 2023.’

Letter chain table chairman to House of Representatives on fair pay incentive

Given the division of responsibilities between the governments, the focus of the national government is primarily on the professional arts in the narrow sense. This also applies to the current preparations for the cultural period 2025-2028. In order not to miss the boat here, plus in view of the aforementioned Framework of Reference and the preliminary Survey Report, the chain table chair has already addressed the Lower House via a letter at the end of June 2023. This was sent in copy to the State Secretary of OCW, IPO and VNG. This letter advocates the necessity of a local basic infrastructure and a fair pay impulse for the sub-sector of cultural education and amateur art. To be realized by the central government together with co-governments and cultural funds.

To be noted:

Chain Table Chair Letter to House of Representatives: ‘Need for local basic infrastructure and fair pay impulse for cultural education and amateur arts. June 2023.’

___________________________________________________________________________

Download the entry form here*:

Fill-in form

* Please e-mail the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl preferably by Nov. 1 and no later than Nov. 15.

___________________________________________________________________________

Read on about what preceded:

Brief history

After an exploration, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council released the advisory report “Passion Valued” in 2017. The earning power of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, they noted. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on this, a Labor Market Agenda appeared in 2017 with three spearheads: structural social dialogue, strengthening earning capacity, improving working conditions. Also, the Fair Practice Code emerged with three principles: fair pay, fair share, fair chain.

Outline of the broad field of work

Many activities in cultural education and amateur art have been cut back in recent years, especially by municipalities. The CAO Arts Education only concerns subsidized organizations in the field of arts education, including dance schools, youth theater schools and circus schools. Furthermore, a very limited number of institutions still apply the Collective Bargaining Agreement for Municipalities.
However, independent art professionals work, through intermediaries or otherwise, for many different categories of clients such as: schools, child care, (youth) welfare, amateur art groups including choirs and orchestras, cultural institutions, sports organizations, festivals/holiday camps. Within these, varying financial provisions apply to these workers.

Specific preliminary research

All in all, this is one of the five cultural subsectors where the situation is most worrisome financially and for which a concretization of the fair pay principle was considered necessary in any case. Bureau HTH therefore presented in February 2021, commissioned by Platform ACCT, the preliminary study ‘Better Terms and Conditions of Employment in the Cultural and Creative Sector. A Proposal for Follow-up Steps 2021-2024.’ This contained, among other things, the following recommendations for cultural education and amateur art: develop rate guidelines for employees without a collective bargaining agreement and for the self-employed and calculate what it would mean if currently unpaid hours were to be paid.

Program fairPACCT and composition Chain Table from 2022 onward

The three-year program fairPACCT of Platfom ACCT has started by 2022 with the help of OCW subsidy to concretize fair pay. The Landelijk Kennisinstituut Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst (LKCA) is doing for the sub-sector as a whole and in 2022 specifically with an Action Plan Labor Market Position Art Professionals in Leisure. FairPACCT, in coordination with the LKCA, has therefore assembled and supervised a Chain Table for the entire subsector. The table started in June 2022 and currently consists of 11 workers from various professional associations and the union, 9 types of work providers plus 5 commercial or non-profit intermediaries. In addition, co-readers have been recruited, particularly from the professional art education and welfare sectors. Bertien Minco, previously director of the Youth Culture Fund and others, is the independent chair.

Reference framework existing collective bargaining agreements, guidelines, etc.

At the request of the Chain Table, the independent consulting firm Social Finance Matters (SFM) published the study ‘Fair pay arts professionals in cultural education and amateur art in January 2023. Reference framework for existing collective agreement positions, grading, hourly amounts and rate guidelines.’ SFM states that this mainly concerns art professionals – in particular teachers, consultants, coaches and conductors – who are active within those parts of cultural education and amateur art where no or no specific collective labor agreement applies. In order to arrive at decent rate guidelines for them, the study offers insight into the financial situation of these and similar groups in 7 collective agreements within the cultural and creative sector, 7 collective agreements for education and the social domain, and 6 guidelines from professional associations.

Survey report unreimbursed work

In addition to the moderate hourly rates, the fact that there are many unreimbursed hours was a hot issue within the Chain Table. Bureau SFM, in coordination with the Table, therefore, conducted a survey between mid-April and mid-June 2023, to which more than 1,000 workers responded. Based on that, in September 2023 came the report “Uncompensated Work. Focal point for fair pay of arts professionals in cultural education and amateur art.’ On average, 38.3% of the time worked turns out to be spent on additional activities that are necessary to properly carry out the assignment, such as preparing lessons, grading work, putting together arrangements and course materials, or rehearsing repertoire. In 76% of the assignments, however, these activities are partially not compensated and in 30% not at all. Uncompensated work is thus, according to the researcher, one of the main concerns for fair pay or fair pay in this segment of the cultural sector.

Learn more

Completion form (* You can mail the completion form back preferably before November 1 and no later than November 15 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl)

FairPACCT chain table Arts Professionals in Cultural Education and Amateur Arts (read more under the ‘current’ or ‘about the table’ section)

SFM Research: ‘Fair pay arts professionals in cultural education and amateur art. Reference framework of existing collective agreement positions, grading, hourly rates and rate guidelines. January 2023.’

SFM Survey Report: ‘Uncompensated work. Focus on fair pay of arts professionals in cultural education and amateur art. September 2023.’