Social Dialogue in New Members States

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European Social Partners organisations in the Fisheries Sector cooperate to help social partners in new Member States and candidate Countries to build capacity.

Between December 2008 and December 2009 ETF, in cooperation with Europêche and COGECA, carried out a EU co-funded project to enhance sectoral social dialogue in Fisheries in new Member States and candidate Countries and to improve the participation of social partners from those countries in the activities of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Fisheries (SSDC) and of the other fisheries-related bodies at EU level).

The background
The two latest enlargements have brought into the EU several coastal States, all of which have a fisheries sector. To anticipate such enlargements and prepare the inclusion of social partners from acceding States, the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Fisheries had carried out a first project in 2002. Thanks to this project the European social partners’ organisations could get in contact with several trade unions and employers’ associations from those countries and make them acquainted with the EU-level social dialogue. Since then, however, the participation of social partners from new Countries to the activities of the SSDC has been quite poor. For this reason, ETF and Europêche/COGECA have agreed to apply for funds and organise a second project on the enhancement of New Member States’ participation in the activities of the SSDC.

The project
During the preliminary phase social partners gathered contact details of the organisations, institutions and individuals having a potential interest in the project (national-level social partners, national administrations, members of the European Parliament from New Members States, RACs, etc).

A questionnaire was then addressed to social partners, to collect information on their activities at national level, on their potential interest in EU social dialogue and on EU fisheries policy and on the factors impeding their active participation in the SSDC. The project’s main event, held in Split, Croatia from 3 to 6 November 2009, was then structured according to the replies received to the questionnaire.
During the main event, besides sitting together in a plenary session, the workers’ and employers’ delegations could also attend two separate seminars, to deal with the subjects crucial for each of them. The seminar for the workers’ delegation was focused on organising workers and building strong unions in the fisheries sector. The programme, report and presentations delivered during the unions’ seminar can be found here.
Since most of the respondents to the questionnaire signalled the lack or poorness of sectoral social dialogue at national level, their scarce involvement in consultations and policy-making, and stated their interest in learning about the activities of the SSDC, the potentials of social dialogue as well as the Fisheries policy-making at EU level, the plenary seminar was aimed at giving an in-depth description of the framework in which social partners operate at EU level. Representatives from social partners introduced their European organisations and described the SSDC activities and achievements; DG Employment delivered a presentation on the functioning and role of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue and on the funding opportunities offered to social partners; DG MARE outlined the CFP reform, the structural funds for the fisheries sector focusing especially on the role of partnership and the consultation process in the framework of the ACFA (Advisory Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture); the ILO presented Convention 188 “Work in Fisheries” as well as its activities in the framework of social dialogue.
The seminar’s programme and some of the presentations delivered can be found here.

The follow up
Social partners are at present examining the possible ways to follow the project up. As one of the critical elements which emerged from the project was the need to better involve national administrations and raise their awareness on the importance of sectoral social dialogue, the next activities could be focused on promoting tripartite dialogue. Future initiatives will also be focused on one country at the time, so that the specific problems encountered in each state can be properly tackled.

The pictures of this event can be found here.

If you are interested to know more about the project and about European social partners’ activities in fisheries, please contact us at l.spera@etf-europe.org.

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