LatAm associations draft gender equality declaration
Musicians’ unions across Latin America have drafted and signed a declaration pledging to work towards gender parity in their memberships.
At an event hosted by the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) in Bogota, Colombia, before Christmas, local artists’ union Ormúsica, as well as its counterparts in Uruguay (Audem and Fudem), Argentina (Sadem), Peru (SIMCCAP), Panama (Sitmas), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Sindmusi), Mexico (SUTM), Cuba (UNEAC) and Costa Rica (UTM), put their names to a document committing to achieving a 50-50 gender split among their members, with 30% women by 2025.
The declaration, entitled Declaración sobre equidad de género en el sector musical sindical (Declaration on gender equality in the musical union sector), also commits the signatories to undertaking an annual census of their memberships to assess the progress made towards gender equality.
In a statement, FIM, which represents some 70 musicians’ unions globally, thanked Ormúsica “for their warm welcome to a successful event”.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
No police at Dutch fests as ‘overworked’ officers go on strike
There will be no police presence at this weekend’s Decibel Outdoor festival in Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands, amid a row between police union ACP and the Dutch government over pay and working conditions.
Unless there is a “serious disruption of public order”, police will steer clear of the EDM festival – which is expected to be attended by more than 70,000 people over 17–19 August – in protest at what the leading trade union calls an “enormous amount of work that can no longer be dealt with”.
“We cannot keep up with the increase in the number of events, and our work [at festivals] is no longer in proportion to other tasks,” says an ACP spokesperson. “This year alone, there are nearly 1,000 festivals which, almost without exception, demand police deployment. This places a huge strain on the force in the present circumstances.”
A social-media campaign, #nuldecibel, aims to raise awareness of the reasons behind the boycott. Zeeland–West Brabant police usually send around 300 officers to the festival, says ACP.
“We cannot keep up with the increase in the number of events”
According to local media, talks between the unions and the Netherlands’ Ministry of Justice and Security have been deadlocked for months, following the former’s rejection of a 7% pay rise earlier this summer. Outside of festivals, police have protested by not issuing tickets or collecting fines.
ACP says that while its actions to this point have been “public-friendly”, it has taken the decision to switch to those with “social consequences”, such as the Decibel Outdoor boycott, as a result of the stalled negotiations. “Politicians and citizens must be aware that it can not go on like this,” says the spokesperson.
French festival promoters last month reacted with fury after a leaked memo revealed government plans to begin charging for police at their events.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.