The Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, has heard criticism from the cultural community and is amending her bill on the status of the artist in order to tighten the screws on “shell” companies, which are legion in the audiovisual sector. .
These companies are specifically created for a single project and are dissolved when it ends. However, often, the producers who are behind them are not members of an association in good standing, which forces the unions to negotiate the artists’ working conditions with them piecemeal.
These are often less brilliant on these shoots than on the sets subject to a collective agreement in good and due form. Worse: unions say they regularly struggle to enforce contracts, as these “shell” companies no longer feel bound to honor them once they disappear.
“There needs to be some form of accountability. Especially when there is a subsidy granted to these producers. It is not possible that in 2022, public funds will be granted to producers who provide working conditions that are below standards, ”defended the president of the Union des artistes (UDA), Sophie Prégent, in interview at To have to Wednesday, the day after his testimony in parliamentary committee.
The Association of Directors and Directors of Quebec (ARRQ) and the Society of Radio, Television and Cinema Authors (SARTEC) also regretted that the bill on the status of the artist does not go far enough on this issue.
Finally, Minister Roy proposed an amendment on Wednesday so that producers are required to respect the commitments of their former “shell” company for a certain period of time. The Minister of Culture will not, however, oblige producers to be members of an association, as demanded by the UDA.
Otherwise, the study of the reform on the status of the artist has been going smoothly for two days, and the minister’s office is still hopeful of passing Bill 35 before the end of the parliamentary session.
Liberal MP Christine St-Pierre, however, expressed regret on Wednesday that the protections conferred under the new law on the status of the artist do not extend to freelance journalists, who have seen their working conditions deteriorate considerably. in the last few years.
“If someone who writes a cookbook is considered an artist in the law, we can recognize that independent journalists do such noble work. […] Independent journalists are struggling. It would change the lives of dozens of people,” pleaded the MP for Acadie at the opening of the parliamentary committee.
His proposed amendment was finally rejected by the Minister of Culture on the pretext “that a journalist is not an artist”. ” [La réforme du statut de l’artiste] is not the right vehicle,” ruled Nathalie Roy.
Remember that Bill 35 would make it easier for artists to go to the Administrative Labor Tribunal, in addition to giving them additional protections in the event of harassment in their workplace. The reform would encompass not only the audiovisual and performing arts sector, but also writers and visual artists, who could therefore benefit from a collective agreement rather than having to negotiate their contract alone.