Mykolaiv City Council to ask Parliament to increase salaries of Mykolaiv cultural workers

Mykolaiv deputies are preparing an appeal to Kyiv over low salaries in the cultural sector, archive photo: NikVesti

Deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council plan to appeal to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers to increase the salaries of cultural workers.

The relevant draft decision has been prepared for consideration at the city council session, according to NikVesti.

The document refers to the critically low level of remuneration in the cultural sector. According to the data provided in the draft appeal, employees of libraries, houses and palaces of culture, music and art schools, and zoos receive some of the lowest salaries in the country.

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The deputies emphasise that despite the war, cultural institutions in Mykolaiv did not stop working. They acted as aid centres for citizens, provided psychological support, helped the military and volunteers, and continue to support the cultural life of the frontline city.

«Cultural workers were able to make sure that Mykolaiv residents had their own space, cosy, safe and comfortable. Nowadays, cultural institutions have all of this: resources, expertise, specialists, specially equipped spaces. However, cultural workers are currently the least protected by the state. According to the official data of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the lowest salaries are paid in the cultural sector. The average salary of employees of libraries, houses and palaces of culture, art and music schools, and zoos is the lowest in the country», the appeal says.

The draft states that in 2025 the minimum wage will be 8,000 hryvnias, but the salaries of many cultural workers remain below this level. In particular, the salary of a teacher of the highest qualification category is 7,732 hryvnias, a leading librarian — 6,773 hryvnias, and a head of a creative team — 5,815 hryvnias. As a result, employees have to be paid an additional supplement to the minimum wage.

The authors of the appeal also draw attention to the staff shortage in the cultural sector. According to them, due to low salaries and limited opportunities for professional development, the industry is losing skilled workers, particularly in times of war.

In the appeal, the deputies ask to review the system of remuneration for cultural workers, update the unified tariff scale, increase salaries, restore the suspended legislation, and introduce additional payments for cultural workers working in frontline and border communities.

As a reminder, in Mykolaiv, the salaries of music school staff are to be increased by 30% next year. The city is trying to raise the prestige of music education in the city.

According to the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, even a salary increase will not solve the problem of staff shortages. According to him, the Department of Culture continues to experience an acute lack of funding, which limits the ability to support extracurricular activities and music schools.

It is worth noting that Mykolaiv City Council has changed its plans for the fate of the cultural heritage protection department, which was planned to be removed from the specialised department and transferred to the architecture department as part of the structure reform. Now the mayor's office sees it necessary to create a separate structural unit responsible for the cultural heritage of Mykolaiv.

In addition, the chief architect of Mykolaiv, Yevhen Poliakov, called the protection of cultural heritage an under-implemented area.

It is worth noting that the Department of Culture, Nationalities and Religions of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration warns the Mykolaiv City Council that the transfer of functions of protecting cultural heritage sites to the Department of Architecture and Urban Development may «create a potential conflict of interest».

Read more about this in the NikVesti article «How Mykolaiv can change its approach to the protection of historical buildings and what is behind it».