FIA Sends a Renewed Call for Collective Bargaining in Greek Theatre

In response to a request from Greek affiliate Hellenic Actors Union (HAU) in March 2018, FIA extended its full support to their fight to regain bargained minimum wages and decent working conditions in the Free Theatre in Greece.

In its letter of support, FIA recalled that the right to organize and bargain collectively is one of the most fundamental for every worker. Performers are workers and deserve to be recognised as such and enjoy equal rights, even if the nature of their craft means that the work may be of a short-term or intermittent nature. Indeed this makes them all the more vulnerable and their living more precarious. The restitution of collective bargaining in the National Theatre in Greece in 2017 was an important step forward for performers and a foundation for the further progress that remains vitally necessary.

Therefore FIA calls upon the Greek government to recognise the need for collective bargaining on behalf of performers where it does not exist and to recognise, extend and give legal weight to collective agreements in Theatre. It invites the Greek employers to re-engage with their union counterparts in the Free Theatre sector and reach an agreement for a more sustainable sector.

Actors in Greece, cradle of western theatre, deserve working conditions in line with the best practices in Europe.