The Education Department of the European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health and Safety (ETUI-REHS Education) will organise a joint course with EPSU Working and living conditions in prison services in Europe: collective bargaining issues which will be held from 10 to 12 December 2006 in Prague, Czech Republic. This course will build upon the EPSU workshop on prison services on 19 May 2005 that focused on working conditions of prison security staff and involvement of private companies in prisons. One of the workshop conclusions was to extend the discussion to social and healthcare workers involved in prison services and to issues relating to criminal justice systems. Building upon that first workshop, this course will enable participants to:

 build bridges between prison wardens and social (including probation-related) and healthcare workers in prisons and gain better understanding of working and living conditions in prisons;
 discuss and compare trends in working conditions, trade union rights, role of social dialogue at national and EU levels ( e.g. ongoing negotiations on violence at work) and EU social directives (working time, health and safety, non-discrimination);
 develop a European trade union response to prison reforms in light of the EU agenda on public services
 contribute to an EPSU network on prison and correctional services including an alert system on private companies’ involvement in prison and correctional services

Working languages will be English, French and German, and another language still to be decided.

The enclosed programme will give you an overview of the course contents.

The seminar venue will be communicated later.

Who should participate?

Trade union representatives from EPSU affiliates in charge of, or relating to, national administration and health and social services with knowledge of, or direct experience in, prison services.

When should participants arrive and depart?

Participants are expected to arrive on Saturday 9 and to leave on Tuesday 12 December 2006 (after lunch).

How are enrolments processed?

A maximum of 40 participants can be accepted. The final confirmation of the participants will be done by the team of trainers bearing in mind the requirements for the target group. We ask you to bear in mind the recommendations of the ETUC Action Plan for gender equality which call for the proportional representation of women in trade union activities.

For more information, draft programme and practical details, see the Standing Committee on National and European Administration, Prison Services section