/ world today news/ We are prompted to express our opinion due to the systematic non-compliance of the Statute of the Union of Artists in Bulgaria by its chairman.
The damaged authority of both the SAB and the actors’ and its adjacent guilds is the result of the inadmissible for a creative trade union organization replacing causal with narrow party interests. This is stated in the position of the actors’ guild from the National Theater, signed by 72 people in connection with the expressed attitude of Hristo Mutafchiev regarding the measures taken by the Ministry of Culture for a number of Bulgarian theater and stage institutes in February of this year.
We are guided by our firm conviction that the Union of Artists in Bulgaria must exist and it must defend the rights and interests of all those employed in the field of performing arts, affirm and promote the sustainable and qualitative development of these arts, represent a permanent and impartial corrective both to the relevant employers and to the Ministry of Culture, to regain the confidence of its members and its appearance as a professional organization. Because such a union is a conditio sine qua non for modern European Bulgaria and the future development of art in our country.
For these reasons, we, the collective of the National Theater “Ivan Vazov”, demand that Mr. Mutafchiev resign immediately from the post of chairman of the Union of Artists in Bulgaria, the position says.
The actors also quote a part of the Statute of the SAB, where it is said that the SAB is independent of political parties and state structures and is guided solely by the will of its members, observing the principles of autonomy, professionalism, transparency in the work of the governing bodies” – the behavior of Mr. Mutafchiev is markedly politically nepotistic and contrary to the will of the members, if at all such a will has been expressed given the insignificant membership mass of SAB today.
“3.1. To work for the confirmation of theater and stage art and for raising its prestige”, “3.3. To defend the civil rights of its members and protect them when their professional dignity is violated” and “3.4. To help preserve the memory of the theatrical work in our country” – with his statements about his colleagues in the actors’ guild from February 11, 2016, Mr. Mutafchiev, on the contrary – works to the detriment of this dignity and against raising the prestige of art in Bulgarian society , and through these actions he instills a negative image of the guild in the public space, according to the team at the National Theater.
“To uphold the trade union rights of its members, related to: individual, collective labor and branch labor contracts”, “4.6. Protection of members in case of labor-legal problems” and “SAB management represents [интересите на своите членове] at the national level only and only in the field of performing arts and does not allow these interests to be diluted in the general social problems”. Apart from the fact that none of the above mentioned in the Statute of the SAB is happening, Mr. Mutafchiev managed to reduce the membership of the Union, of course – the legitimate representation of the class before the society, to a narrow circle of like-minded people, the position says.
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