Cultural workers who have requested the suspension subsidy provided for in the Professionals’ Charter are suffering “several months” delays in payments or even non-response to requests, several industry associations denounced on Tuesday.
The complaint was filed on Tuesday in a statement by seven entities representing cultural professionals demanding an “immediate response” to the delays by the Social Security Financial Management Institute.
This is a “creative suspension subsidy”, equivalent to unemployment benefits, for self-employed workers with very short-term contracts registered in the register of cultural professionals.
“It is unacceptable for requests to wait for a response for several months, the applicants fulfilled all the criteria for their inclusion,” emphasize the structures that claim to have received “several appeals.”
According to these structures, “at the date of the request, any specialist must be without income for a month and are subject to payment of contributions for a minimum amount, which makes their attribution relevant.”
This support is spelled out in the Charter of Cultural Workers, a long-requested sector and the implementation of which came into force in stages in 2022. Only from October 1, 2022, workers can access this subsidy.
“The measure, which was supposed to be in effect from October 2022, has not yet passed the document,” they lamented, believing that the purpose of the subsidy is jeopardized “for those who work project after project and therefore have an inconsistent income.”
One of the first steps to be covered by the Statute of Cultural Workers is registration in the register of cultural workers.
In January of this year, 2,158 workers were registered in this register, down 302 from October, according to figures provided by the sector to Lusa at the time.
Today, the statement says it is “most likely” that more workers will balk at the new regime, “seeing the expectation of a shutdown subsidy.”
The seven signatories of the communiqué are Ação Cooperatividade, Acesso Cultura, the Portuguese Association of Directors, the Union of Show, Audiovisual and Musicians, Performart – the Association of the Performing Arts in Portugal, Plateia – the Association of Performing Arts Professionals and the Network. – Association of Contemporary Dance Structures.
In the statement, they state that they have already contacted the General Inspectorate for Cultural Activities (IGAC) for clarification, as it is “the interlocutor on this issue and chairs the meetings of the Charter Monitoring Committee.”
“To date, the only response received has been that IGAC will seek clarification from Social Security,” the document says.
They also deplore the “failure of public institutions to implement the Statute of Cultural Professionals”, not least because the statute control commission, which was supposed to meet every quarter from January 2022, ended up holding only two meetings.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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