(January 2006) New social dialogue work programme The social dialogue Committee for local and regional government met on 31 January 2006 and approved the new work programme for 2006/2007 (attached below in English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish).
The work programme has four themes:
- Strengthening social dialogue in the new member states / candidate countries through capacity building activities; - Supporting reform processes (focus on demographic ageing and work organisation);
- Promoting gender equality and diversity (focus on gender equality plans);
- Evaluation of different forms of local public services delivery (joint study). The Committee also adopted a report of activities for the 2004/2005 work programme (also attached, in English).
The Committee had a positive evaluation of the first work programme but stressed the need for greater participation of members from all countries in future activities to become more involved. One suggestion that may help participation in the Committee on both sides is to identify in a more precise way the key actors that are responsible for determining the pay and working conditions of workers in LRG in each country. We will come back to this.
The Committee requested that all the adopted texts of the Committee be put on the European Commission's social dialogue website. The first activity in the new work porgramme, on social dialogue in the new Member Sates, is planned for 20 March 2006. An invitation will go out shortly, addressed in particular to colleagues in the new Member States plus Romania and Bulgaria. The second activity, focusing in demographic ageing, is planned for 6 June 2006.
We remind you that the meetings of the Standing Committee for 2006 are on 23 May 2006 (in Luxembourg) and 2 October 2006 (in Brussels).
The LRG officers (Anders Hammerback and Joelle Bernard) had a first discussion in January on the agenda for the meeting on 23 May. We have already agreed at the last meeting that we will discuss and adopt a “checklist” on outsourcing (prepared with the help of epsucob@) and we will also need some time to discuss social dialogue developments, the TRACE project (see below) and the EPSU public services campaign (which will be launched on 20/21 April in Vienna.
We thought however that the May meeting would be an opportune moment to review the Committee's work programme adopted at the 2004 EPSU Congress (see annexe 3 to the Resolution R.1. Public Services - Europe's Strength) and have a general debate about future activities. Suggestions are welcome on this also in advance of the meeting. An invitation for the meeting, together with a call for a second vice-President for the Committee, will go out shortly.
EPSU TRACE project: A second workshop was organised in the framework of the TRACE project in Berlin in December 2005.
The workshop addressed the same questions as the first workshop in Oxford in July 2005 on decentralisation and its impact on employment and quality of public services. A third workshop will be organised on 12/13 June 2006 to bring together the participants and experiences of both workshops. The meeting will draw up a trade union handbook on decentralisation, covering the following issues:
- EU and national institutional framework on public service standards, trade union rights and social dialogue;
- Reasons for decentralisation and resources allocation: Political? Financial? Meeting real needs? Will transfer include transfer of funds? Is there a (legal) framework for standards? Is there a (legal) framework for collective bargaining?
- Human resources management policy and training;
- Workers' information and consultation rights, prior reforms and during implementation;
- Trade union cooperation and social dialogue: decentralisation means multiplicity of players that requires trade unions cooperation at all levels; - Potential risks and gains;
- Glossary of terms (i.e., decentralisation, delocalisation, relocation etc) All EPSU affiliates can join TRACE and members can download and publish documents (files) and post short messages, like on a regular email system. The server is accessible from the EPSU homepage.
EPSU TRACE reports and background materials can be also accessed on the website.
LRG firefighters network: Last December 2005 we invited affiliates if they would like to join a firefighters network. The response to the invitation has been positive (see attached list) and we propose as a first activity to focus on working time issues. A short questionnaire will go out soon to the members of the network (plus LRG members for information) and a workshop will be organised to discuss the results later in the year. The network will be animated with the support of the UK FBU. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like further information.
- European Social Dialogue Committee on Local and Regional Government - Report on the implementation of the 2004/2005 work programme (document English only)
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