WORK, PLAY, LOVE. Gen Z and the Price of Making a Living

“84 hours a week back at work; the employer has flushed human rights down the toilet,” sings the young Slovak-Czech band Flüst. They, too, will be performing at the event, which will focus on work, working conditions, precarious employment and exploitation. We’ll be discussing, for example, labour migration, pay in the journalism sector, trade unions and fair labour policies. Guests from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland will share personal stories from their own workplaces, their experiences of organising from the grassroots to negotiate better working conditions, and will compare examples from various European countries. A significant part of the discussion will be devoted to work in the fields of culture and the arts, as this is a fragmented sector with a weaker bargaining position; moreover, cultural workers often carry out a great deal of unpaid work. In recent years, however, several initiatives have emerged in Central Europe that are striving to improve the situation. As well as the trio Flüst, whose songs rally the working class and tackle issues such as burnout and unaffordable housing, the event will also feature a concert by the Hungarian underground band IGA, who proclaim that ‘punk without politics is just pop’.

5.00 pm PANEL 1 – Precarious Work 

Low or irregular incomes, instability and uncertainty, inadequate social security, short-term contracts, being forced to work as a self-employed person, or having little ability to defend oneself against an employer. These are just some of the signs of precariousness. We will be talking to our panellists about the nature of precarious work in various sectors (the media, academic environment, social work, employment agencies), how to defend oneself against exploitation, and what role collective organising can play in promoting fairer working conditions.

Panellists:
Alžbeta Kyselicová, journalist, Kapitál, Slovakia
Franciszek Dziduch, journalist, Kultura Liberalna, Poland
Norbert Ferencz, social worker, member of presidential board of Social Workers Union, Hungary

Moderator:
Soma Ábrahám Kiss, journalist, Mérce, Hungary 

7.00 pm PANEL 2 – Culture, Trade Unions, Solidarity 

Culture is an immensely diverse and fragmented sector. Is it possible to reach a consensus within it on what constitutes fair remuneration for work in the cultural sector? Is it possible to establish effective trade unions in a sector where most people are not in permanent employment? In this discussion, we compare initiatives and measures from Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic that aim to improve working conditions for cultural workers.

Panellist:
Jakub Molnár, cultural publicist, member of Cultural trade unions, Slovakia
Ferenc Kőszeghy, cultural scholar, journalist, communications chief coordinator at Literature Union (IRSZ), Hungary
TBA, Czech Republic

Moderator:
Tomáš Hučko, journalist, Kapitál, Slovakia

9.00 pm Concerts

IGA

Flüst