IMAGO Working Conditions Committee launch survey

“Sales in the audiovisual sector worldwide are at breathtaking heights.

“In Europe alone, these sales are higher than in the auto industry. It is incomprehensible that those who generate these enormous sales with their professional skills and their hard work are being put under pressure. In many IMAGO member countries, working conditions are seriously deteriorating, 14-15hr days is more the rule than the exception, and the problem is increasing in many places. We think it is also IMAGO’s responsibility to contribute to stopping this negative trend. 

“The IMAGO Working Conditions Committee is a highly functional committee with members of a specific expertise. WCC has been working for years researching this negative trend. 

“This has resulted in a practicable questionnaire elaborated mainly by our legal advisor Cristina Busch accorded also with the IMAGO Committee of Diversity and Inclusion and in cooperation with FORBA Working Life Research Centre, Vienna, which has high international reputation. FORBA will scientifically process the answers and use them to create an international study.”

The aims are the following: 

1. Contribute to European policy development on quality of work and employment in the audiovisual sector (acceptable working hours, fair payment, social protection, etc.) 

1. Inform and influence the film production environment to implement satisfactory working conditions.  

1. Encourage all IMAGO members worldwide to stand for better working conditions using the study as an example and reflection of their own working world. 

“To achieve the desired result, we need relevant data to present the European Parliament, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNESCO. It is therefore extremely important that as many international colleagues as possible take part in the survey. Only if we provide politicians with reliable figures and data can we achieve a sustainable improvement in our working conditions!  

“We have significant political support by the EU authorities and by UNESCO for doing this important survey and research and it will make the foundation for how IMAGO will plan to combat unfair working conditions for cinematographers. EU authorities and UNESCO are eagerly awaiting the results of the study. Based on this, the IMAGO Working Conditions Committee has set itself the goal of closely monitoring the world of work in the audiovisual sector and of providing solidarity support to all colleagues internationally to enforce their rights. 

“It is high time for film workers, wherever they work, to take the improvement of their working environment politically into their own hands. The IMAGO Working Conditions Committee would like to take a decisive step in this direction, because IMAGO is, finally, a global community of solidarity.“

Kurt Brazda  

Chair, IMAGO Working Conditions Committee 

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Here is the link to take part in the survey.