Category: Projects

Strengthening social dialogue in the hospital sector in the Baltic countries

A project proposal under budget line 04.03.03.01

FULL TEXT: Project report |Riga Declaration

The project “Strengthening social dialogue in the hospital sector in the Baltic countries” has the following main objectives:

The goal of this project is to improve the dissemination of the priorities and outcomes of the European sectoral social dialogue in the hospital sector in the Baltic countries, to help share good practice on some of the core priority actions of the sectoral dialogue between EPSU and HOSPEEM, to help build the capacity of the hospital sector social partners in the Baltic countries and to assist in feeding national social dialogue interests from the “bottom up”.

Dissemination will specifically focus on the framework agreement reached at sectoral level in 2009 on needlestick injuries. Good practice sharing will relate to a priority of the work programme agreed by EPSU and HOSPEEM for 2010 and the activities of one of its working groups on skills development in the sector. Finally, the project will focus on involving employer and trade union organisations in the sector in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to help them develop their national sectoral dialogue in order to allow them to feed their own priorities, concerns and good practices to the European level.

Specific objectives

1. To build on the activities and findings of a previous project completed in 2008 which focussed on strengthening social dialogue in the hospital sector in all new Member States. This project involved the identification of relevant social partner organisations and social dialogue processes in all EU countries, as well as providing capacity building to social partner organisations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This new projects hopes to draw on the organisations and priorities identified in this report for the Baltic countries and provide similar capacity building measures in Latvia and Lithuania (where HOSPEEM currently has members) and to follow up contacts with relevant employers organisations in Estonia to establish if similar activities can be envisaged between the social partners in this country, which could ultimately boost the representativity of HOSPEEM in this country and to add value to the European social dialogue process.
2. To contribute to the dissemination of the framework agreement on needlesticks by assessing its potential impact and implementation and organising a dissemination event in Latvia.
3. To contribute to the proceedings of the working group on retention and skills development by gathering good practice examples to be discussed at a seminar in Latvia and shared at the final dissemination event.

Project context

General

A sectoral social dialogue Committee for the hospital sector involving EPSU and HOSPEEM was set up in 2006. Since then, this sectoral social dialogue has matured significantly and has already led to the agreement of a Code of Conduct on Ethical Recruitment, as well as, in 2009, to the negotiation of a framework agreement on needlestick injuries, which has now been transformed into an EU Directive for implementation at Member State level. In addition a number of joint text have been adopted, for example on the proposals for a Directive on Patient’s Rights in the EU. A number of working groups have also been active in recent years, which have exchanged information on mobility, retention, ageing and skills issues affecting the sector. EPSU and HOSPEEM are also part of a multi-sectoral initiative exploring the possibility of the development of a joint tool on tackling third party violence in a number of sectors.

The dissemination of social dialogue results such as the needlesticks agreement and the continuation of the exchange of information in the working group on retention and skills development are a priority of the sectoral social partners’ work programme for 2010.

In 2008, HOSPEEM and EPSU implemented a project on strengthening social dialogue in the new Member States. The goal of this project was twofold: to identify and chart social dialogue processes in the hospital sector in all Member States and to offer assistance with capacity building to trade union and employer organisations in the sector in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

EPSU and HOSPEEM are now keen to build on this experience and to run a similar project aimed at further engaging social partner organisations in the Baltic countries. HOSPEEM currently has members in Latvia and Lithuania, with EPSU represented in all Baltic countries.

RESPECT

Effective approaches to tackling third party violence in the workplace

A project proposal under budget line 04.03.03.01

FULL REPORT: Respect project report

Project objectives

The project “RESPECT” has the following main objectives:

Final objective

To assist employers in the hospital, local government, private security and commerce sectors, in an independent but coordinated manner with the respective trade unions, to develop an EU multi-sectoral Action Plan which will:

• Aim to reduce the overall level of third part violence and to mitigate its negative effects;
• Complement the 2007 cross-sectoral framework agreement adopted by ETUC BusinessEurope CEEP and UEAPME, in particular chapter 4 of this agreement;
• Take account of health and safety regulations and existing frameworks;
• Provide an instrument to raise awareness across Europe of the different issues concerning third party violence;
• Confirm the responsibility of employers, in co-operation with trade unions and workers, to ensure and promote a working environment free from third party violence;
• Identify the different measures and processes introduced by social partners to prevent and mange problems of third party violence at work;
• Draw up principles and guidance that can support joint actions by social partners at the different levels to tackle third party violence;
• Give examples of practical measures which can be taken;
• Commit trade unions and employers to working together on this issue;
• Provide a framework for monitoring, evaluation and review

Specific objectives

1. To build on discussions at the multi-sectoral seminar on third party violence on 14 March 2008 and the multi-sectoral meeting on 4 July 2008 to gather further information on how sectoral social partners at the national level are tackling the issue of third party violence in the workplace. This should contribute to the drafting of multi-sectoral principles and guidelines at European level on how this challenge can be addressed by social partners at the local level.
2. To assist the sectoral employers organisations involved in the process to date (HOSPEEM, CEMR, CoESS and Eurocommerce) to build up a multisectoral employers’ position and to prepare the employers’ group to eventual negotiations of a multisectoral social dialogue instrument (framework agreement or similar) on third party violence.
3. To organise a multi-sectoral conference with around 120 participants to present the best practices gathered in the information collection exercise and to discuss the potential outline of a multi-sectoral guidance document. Possibility to launch a joint multi-sectoral declaration on the importance of the issue and key principles for tackling third party violence at workplace level and to announce the intention to prepare joint guidance or another social dialogue instrument.

Project context

General

According to research carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in the European Working Conditions Survey, approximately one in ten workers in the European Union report that they have suffered violence, bullying or harassment at work in the previous year (results 2005 survey).  According to data from the survey, third party violence at the hands of clients, customers or patients is more common than violence suffered at the hands of work colleagues.

Threats of violence and actual violence from third parties are most common in a number of sectors including health and social work, transport, recreational activities, public administration, air transport and education, but are also widespread in other sectors including retail and private security.

The impact on the mental and physical health of worker of such experiences is significant and ranges from distress and feelings of humiliation suffered to actual severe physical injury (or even death) and severe mental trauma often leading to long absences from work (and associated lost productivity) and difficulties with staff retention. The table below shows the significance of the problem of violence and harassment in the workplace in relation to overall absence due to work related health problems, as well as the magnitude of the number of days lost per year.

Cross-sectoral

The cross-sectoral social partners BusinessEurope, ETUC, CEEP and UEAPME already recognised the importance of the issue of violence and harassment in the workplace in their autonomous framework agreement on work-related stress, signed in October 2004. Considered as one of the important sources of stress in the workplace, it was seen to be sufficiently important to warrant a separate autonomous framework agreement.

A joint seminar on harassment in the workplace was organised in 2005 as part of the 2003-2005 work programme of the cross sectoral social partners. At the same time, the European Commission launched its consultation on the issue of violence at work, which strongly emphasised the importance of tackling third party violence. In their 2006-2008 cross-sectoral social partner work programme BusinessEurope, ETUC, CEEP and UEAPME committed themselves to negotiating an autonomous framework agreement on harassment and violence. Negotiations started in February 2006 and ended in April 2007.

The agreement reached underlines that the harassment and violence are unacceptable and it is in the common interest of the social partners to address the issue as it can have serious social and economic consequences. The cross-sectoral agreement moves on to emphasise the importance of existing health and safety regulation which defines an employers’ duty to protect workers against harassment and violence in the workplace. In its introduction, the agreement specifically refers to third party violence and harassment as one of the areas to be addressed, but is not later referred to in more detail, leaving it up to national social partners to decide whether to cover this aspect in their implementation agreements.

The cross-sectoral agreement aims to raise awareness of the issue and provide employers, workers and their representatives with an action-oriented framework to identify, prevent and manage problems of harassment and violence at work. It goes on to describe the phenomenon; how to prevent, identify and manage it; as well as setting out the implementation and follow-up process of the agreement.

National member organisations of the cross-sectoral social partner are currently in the process of implementing the agreements at national level in accordance with procedures and practices specific to management and labour in the EU and EEA countries. The deadline for implementation is April 2010.