Drage delavke in delavci v kulturi, dragi prijatelji, drage tovarišice in tovariši,

1. maj, praznik dela, nosi v sebi, poleg zgodovinskih, tudi človeške vrednote. Vedno je bil simbol boja za pravice delavcev. Morda se premalo zavedamo, da imamo pravico do dela in do poštenega plačila vsi, tudi umetnice, umetniki in delavci v kulturi. Ali smo dejansko enakopravni ali ne, ni zgolj v rokah države, temveč predvsem v rokah odločevalcev, ki merijo umetnost na vatle in ne dojamejo, da imajo slikarke, kiparke in umetnice vseh kulturnih zvrsti, enako pravico biti matere in rojevati otroke kot delavke pri drugih poklicih. “Plačilo” za kratko odsotnost v obdobju materinstva, je ponavadi odvzem statusa samozaposlenih v kulturi.

Likovno vizualne umetnice in umetniki nimamo svojega sindikata, a imamo trdo ustvarjalno delo, ki nam je, v obliki talenta, dano v zibko in nam je poslanstvo, ne zgolj poklic. Zato želimo, da se nas upošteva kot vse delavce v naši družbi in naše ustvarjanje ceni kot sleherno delo.

Želim vam lepe praznike in naj živi 1. maj, praznik dela!
Zoran Poznič, Predsednik ZDSLU


Dear cultural workers, dear friends, dear comrades!

May Day, Labour Day, embodies not only historical but also human values. It has always been a symbol of the struggle for workers’ rights. Perhaps we are too little aware that we all have the right to work and fair pay, including artists and cultural workers, both men and women. Whether we are actually equal or not is not only in the hands of the state, but above all in the hands of the decision-makers who measure art by the pound and fail to realise that women painters, sculptors and artists of all cultural disciplines have the same right to be mothers and have children. The “payment” for a short absence due to maternity leave is usually the withdrawal of the status as “self-employed in culture”.

As visual artists, we do not have our own union, but a hard creative job that we have received as a vocation in the form of talent – it is our mission, not just a profession. Therefore, we want to be seen as all workers in our society and our work needs to be appreciated like any other work.

I wish you happy holidays and long live May 1st, International Workers’ Day!
Zoran Poznič, President of ZDSLU