Hundreds of culture workers march in Riga to demand a long-term pay plan

Several hundred culture workers marched through central Riga on Tuesday, 10 November, demanding a long-term plan to raise their pay, the news agency LETA reported. The march, held under the slogan Kultūra (iz)dzīvo (“Culture survives”), set off from the Latvian National Opera and Ballet and ended about 1.5 kilometres later at the Latvian National Museum of Art.

On the way, marchers laid flowers at the Freedom Monument, sang the national anthem and stopped outside the Cabinet of Ministers. Placards read “Culture is not a hobby”, “Working for pennies is no art” and “We want to work in Latvia — do you want us?”.

What the sector wants

The protest was organised by the association Laiks kultūrai. The organisers say average gross pay in the second quarter of this year was €1,395 in heritage institutions and €1,365 in the performing arts, compared with €1,926 across the public sector as a whole. Years of low pay are driving experienced specialists out of the sector and out of Latvia, they say.

Sandis Voldiņš, chairman of the board of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet, has calculated that closing the gap would cost €30 million — €7.5 million a year over four years.

What the government says

Culture Minister Nauris Puntulis of the National Alliance said the protest came at the right moment, as a new government is being formed and work on next year's budget will soon begin. He acknowledged that budget lines for culture workers' pay had shown “round zeros” for the past two years, LSM, the Latvian public broadcaster, reported.

Andris Kulbergs of the United List, who is forming the next government, named culture as one of four state priorities alongside security and defence, health and education, and said cuts would not hit them first. He also said money must not be wasted, including at the Culture Ministry. A long-term pay plan would be a task for the next culture minister, he said.

A concert linked to the protest, with eight professional ensembles on one stage, takes place at the Riga Congress Centre at 19:00 and is broadcast live on LTV7, LR3 Klasika and LSM.lv.