EUROPEAN PRODUCERS AGREE TO TALKS

FILM and television workers throughout Europe are set to begin talks with bosses.
An international association of film and video producers have agreed to attend regular discussions with representatives of UNI-MEI, the international union body to which BECTU belong.
The agreement with the International Federation of Film and Video Producers' Associations (FIAPF), has been reported to the European Commission. Under their statutes, the Commission has an obligation to encourage dialogue between ‘social partners’ in every industry.
UNI-MEI will now begin preparing an agenda of items which could be discussed with film employers in Europe. Cultural diversity and government support for filmmakers are two issues on which the unions and FIAPF are likely to adopt similar positions. FIAPF includes among its members PACT, the Producers' Alliance for Cinema and Television in the UK, the employer's association with whom BECTU has a key agreement on terms and conditions in the industry.
Film workers in Europe will join their colleagues in the theatre sector, where unions already participate in social dialogue with the Performing Arts Employers' Associations League Europe (PEARLE).
Talks about the establishment of social dialogue in the TV and Radio industry are still underway with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
The announcement of the agreement on film workers' dialogue was made by FIAPF's General Secretary, Andre Chaubeau, at a meeting of European film unions in Cannes on the eve of the international film festival.
Delegates voted for better national and European support for production and distribution of films and TV programmes. The meeting also called on the European Union to defend its local production industry when it reviews the "Television Without Frontiers" directive later this year.
The existing directive provides some protection for European film and TV production by demanding that broadcasters should show specified numbers of locally-made programmes ‘wherever possible’.
Film unions in Europe believe that this legal commitment to local production should be renewed, and extended to cover other means of distribution apart from traditional TV. (CD)