Long live 1 May the International Workers' Day!

Today is May Day. The day of labour, of sweat, of solidarity, equality and justice. Today is the day of those who produce, of those who shoulder the invisible burden.

As workers in the field of culture and the arts, we know that a country's stage, screen, orchestra, museum, workshop and library live only through labour. What brings art institutions into being is not office holders, but the thousands of public employees, seen and unseen, who labour in front of and behind the stage. Yet today, all those who pour their sweat into culture and the arts face low wages, lack of permanent positions, precarity, appointments without merit, arbitrary practices and unjust treatment. Today this contradiction is even more visible: On one side, miners who went on hunger strike because they had not been paid for months and who marched for kilometres to claim their rights; on the other, appointed administrators taking weeks-long trips abroad on the state budget… Those who declared "the Tulip Era is over" while eyeing the artist's labour and income have shown clearly who is actually living a "Tulip Era" today. While no resources can be found for workers' wages, stage production and infrastructure, no such restraint is shown in administrators' spending. That those who say "there are no funds" when it comes to workers' pay know no limits when it comes to administrative spending is the starkest expression of the inequality we live through. On one side, workers saying "we want the due return of our sweat"; on the other, a mentality that treats the public budget as a personal spending account… This picture is not merely an injustice; it is a choice of governance. It shows plainly from whom resources are withheld and to whom they are generously granted. Moreover, on a day when the consciousness of national sovereignty — one of the founding values of the Republic — should be strengthened through art, while every institution was holding 23 April celebrations, the orchestras' children's concerts were cancelled without any explanation. Yet on such a day, a symbol of faith in this country's future, the duty of the state's art institutions is not to sink into silence, but to come before the public with stronger, more inclusive events that raise national consciousness. Muting the orchestras is not only a devaluation of artists' labour; it is also a postponement of children's right of access to art. This is not merely an administrative decision; it is a violation of public responsibility. In the face of all these developments, one of the things that must truly be questioned is the silence of the yellow unions. Unionism means organising to protect and advance workers' shared economic, social and professional rights. A union is independent of the employer, autonomous from those in power, and accountable only to its members. A union is a form of organisation that objects when necessary, struggles when necessary, and pays a price when necessary. In all these injustices, the silence of bodies that call themselves unions has, like litmus paper, revealed what unionism really is. The silence of structures that say not a single word about the problems in culture and the arts today — about concert cancellations, the questionable use of public resources and the erosion of workers' rights — is no coincidence. The same silence appears when it comes to miners who cannot collect their wages. This silence is a choice made in favour of power, not of labour. If the union falls silent, the worker is left alone! If the union does not speak, injustice grows! If the union does not struggle, rights recede!

That is why on May Day we recall not only the problems but also the principle: A silent union is no union at all!

We declare our demands once more, openly:

Without excuses, the wages of all art workers must be raised to a level of dignified living, and wages, allowances, bonuses and all personnel entitlements must be paid on time and in full. Merit must be the basis of administrative appointments in culture and art institutions; these institutions must belong to the people and the workers, not to administrators! Precarious and discriminatory employment models such as 4B must be ended immediately. On national holidays, the public responsibility of art institutions must be fulfilled in full. Institutional budgets must be audited transparently and expenditures disclosed to the public. Pressure on union rights and obstacles to organising must end. Children's and young people's access to art must be protected as an essential public service.

May Day is not only the memory of past struggles; it is today's resistance and tomorrow's hope!

We, culture workers — on stage, in the orchestra, in the workshop, in the wings, in the depot, in the office and in the squares — say the same words:

Where there is no labour and no worker, there is no art! If there are resources, they must be for labour, not for privilege! A silent union stands with power, not with the worker! Organised labour cannot be defeated. Long live May Day! Long live labour, solidarity and our struggle!

Culture Workers' Union