The UCO stands in solidarity with the organisations, professionals and trade unions of the cultural sector mobilising this Wednesday, 10 September.
We, the Union of Cinematographers (UCO), affirm our solidarity with the mobilisation that will bring together thousands of cultural professionals in all major cities of France tomorrow.

Our concern is deep in the face of reforms envisaged by successive governments, which are weakening the cultural sector on several fronts:
-The reform of unemployment insurance directly undermines intermittent workers in the performing arts, whose specific regime is an essential condition of cultural creation in France. Without this framework, many artists and technicians would no longer be able to practise their craft.
-The reform of public broadcasting threatens the independence, diversity and quality of works produced and broadcast. A weakened public broadcasting system means less space for original creations and for perspectives beyond those dictated by commercial logic alone.
-The reduction of budgets allocated to culture and public broadcasting hits local authorities hard, which no longer have the means to support festivals, associations and local projects. Yet it is these initiatives that guarantee access to culture for all, across the entire country.

Added to this are the challenges to our rights by our employers themselves:
The fragmentation of our collective bargaining agreement calls into question essential protections for imaging professionals and further weakens solidarity between trades.

Culture is not a luxury: it is a common good, a collective wealth and a factor of social cohesion. To weaken it is to impoverish all of society.

That is why we call on all members and all professionals in our sector to join the demonstrations on 10 September and to make their voices heard in defence of culture, public broadcasting, and the rights of cultural workers.

The UCO — Union of Cinematographers