Denmark - National Report

At the Danish Actors Association the first half of the year has been characterized by traditional trade union work; renegotiation of the collective agreements for the theaters and new important agreements in the media field.

At The Royal Danish Theatre, we have achieved a satisfactory result. For example, we achieved an increase in both wages and pension contribution for the actors. We are still negotiating the collective agreements for the regional theatres, the Copenhagen Theatres and the Danish National Opera.

We are continuously trying to find solid and constructive solutions for both parties, and we strive to show understanding for the employers' requirements and needs. Our main task is however to maintain focus on better pay and better working conditions for our members.
We are negotiating a new collective agreement with Danish Dance Theatre. We are also working on getting the forum theatres, audiobooks, project theatres and revues covered by collective agreements. We are in constant dialogue with the employers and trying to explain why it’s also in their interest to offer good and fair working conditions.

Education

All Denmark’s state subsidized schools of performing arts have been assembled at the Danish Performing Arts School, and in the future all the different educations will become bachelor- and master programs.

There has been a need to create a new education system in this field so the educations can be transferred to the surrounding education system and make it easier to study abroad, which has been difficult until now.

However we are not totally convinced that the given change is all for the best. It will - to some extent - cause an undesired “academisation” of the artistic educations. We are in close dialogue with the newly appointed dean of the school to make sure that the practical craft in the educations is not forgotten.

Film and media
In the autumn of 2014 a new national agreement about Danish films for the period 2015-2018 was made. According to the agreement 82-104 (subsidized) and 12-24 low-budget films will be produced in the period. Low budget films are not necessarily made for movie theatres but will premiere on for example TV or on demand.

We are of course delighted that there is now being invested more in Danish films, and it is also exciting and positive that films are to be made in new ways. But we must be very aware that low budget films not leads to lower salaries or poorer working conditions in general for the involving actors. Although the films are made on a small budget, the work effort for the actors is the same.

In June, the government and all the members of the Danish Parliament made a “Media Agreement” for the next four years. Most important for us is that DR (Danish Broadcasting) and TV2 are now obliged to engage in Danish film production. This means that we will get more Danish drama, and that all DR radio and television programs from now on shall be available on the web.

In this context, all groups of rightsholders (e.g. actors, journalists and directors) made an agreement with DR about the use of their archives. The agreement regulates rebroadcasting on the specialized channels, use of tv-programs and tv-series online, and how DR can reuse clips in new productions.

In the past the agreements only dealt with broadcasts, reruns and transmission. The media are much more complex because of the many different platforms. As a trade union, we have to ensure the best possible payment for our members rights when a new type of platform or use is introduced.

Piracy
The Danish Actors’ Association is a member of an association of Danish rightsholders (called: RettighedsAlliancen – RA) that monitors and works against piracy of Danish film.

Recently, RA on behalf of the Danish Actors' Association, Danish Dramatists, the Producers' Association and the Danish Film Distributors took legal action against the major Internet service provider companies to get the court to order them to block 12 illegal streaming sites. RA won, and has now got totally 21 illegal websites blocked.

In Denmark it has traditionally, only been the distributors and the film producers who have been parties in such cases, but it is an important signal that all rights holders in film production work together to fight piracy.

The popular, illegal streaming site Popcorn Time is not among the 12 new sites that have been blocked because there is not a traditional website to block. RA has gone to the police to shut down Popcorn Time.

Safety
One of our members nearly got killed in an accident on a film last summer. Because of the accident we made a survey on safety among our members.

The survey unfortunately showed that one out of three has been injured on the job in the last five years. It also showed that even though two out of five have experienced safety issues at work, it is still very few that confront the employers about these issues. They are afraid of the consequences and unsure about the safety regulations.

We have used the study talk about security in the press and in our own media.

We want to invest in getting “ambassadors” in this field, and thus we decided to pay for a number of members to get special safety training specifically targeted the safety on theater productions and film sets.
Danish Actors Association is still in dialogue with the Producers' Association and the Danish Theaters’ Association on how to improve the security of our jobs.