Events

Conclusion of the projects financed as part of the Romanian-Swiss cooperation

The last meeting of the partners in the project "The labor market and social dialogue in Romania" which concluded at the end of December 2007 took part in November 2007. The non-governmental organizations, the trade unions and the employers' organizations involved in the project met with the representatives of the funding institutions with the aim of evaluating the projects that were implemented as of 2000.

In the period 2000-2007 the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SADC) and the non-governmental organization Swiss Labor Assistance (SLA) financed projects in Romania in the field of social services that are active on the labour market and the development of trade union organizations and social dialogue. The agency for implementation of these projects was ADO SAH ROM and the implementing organizations were:

The labor market:

• The Association "Iancu de Hunedoara" of Hunedoara 
• The trade union Siderurgistul of Hunedoara 
• The Foundation AMI of Hunedoara 
• The Association Prometeu of Campia Turzii 
• The Foundation Pro Women of Iasi 
• The association Pigmalion of Roman 
• The Association "Turnul Chindiei" of Targoviste

The modernization of trade unions and social dialogue:

• The National Trade Union Federation Cartel ALFA 
• The Trade Union Federation of Steelworkers
  METAROM
• The Free Trade Union Federation of Chemistry and Petrochemistry
• The Trade Union Federation of the Food Industry 
• The Employers' Federation FEPACHIM

The conclusions of this evaluation, as well as the conclusions of the sustainability strategy's implementing are available only in Romanian language for the moment.

Socially responsible restructuring

The Project "The socially responsible restructuring in the accession countries- promotion of the role of the social partners in anticipating and accompanying consequences at a regional level" came to an end in November 2007.

The aim of the project was to strengthen the role of the social partners and generally of the stakeholders in Romania and  Bulgaria, in order to anticipate and accompany the social consequences of social restructuring by sharing experiences and expertise with the social partners ans stakeholders in the Member States.

The project  was financed by the European Commission as part of the budget line  04.03.03.01 "Industrial relations and social dialogue" with a budget amounting to 124,540.93 EURO.

The National Trade Union Confederation Cartel ALFA and the employers' organization UGIR 1903 supported the project.

Partners:

L'Association pour le Development de L'Universite Europeenne du Travail (ADUET) of France
The Association for Organization Development  - SAH ROM of Romania 
The Foundation for Advanced Social Trust (FAST) of Bulgaria

Traditionally, the processes of restructuring are considered, by and large, as being related to the loss of jobs, in the first place. The local managers have rarely tried to do something more than the law compels them to, the unions protect the interests of the workers of enterprises but very rarely take care of those who leave the enterprises whereas the local authorities do not assume any role in what regards the consequences of the restructuring process. And even if the majority of the economy is private, restructuring is a continuous process that is not in the public attention when it does not involve massive lay offs. This is also the case of chemistry and the iron and steel industry, which were the main target of this project.

The social partners have a small experience on the active measures but, at the same time, there is more and more information on the interesting solutions in the field, at a European level. This project intended to make use of the outcomes and experience gained in the European social dialogue, to look into the strategies of the social partners, as well as to organize exchanges and debates between experts and the stakeholders at a national and international level in order to make the social partners and the stakeholders aware on the opportunities and possible solutions and to promote knowledge on good practices and restructuring management.

More details on the conclusions and results of this project are available only in Romanian language for the moment.

The setting up of the Federation of the National Anti-Poverty- Social Inclusion Network (FNAPSIN)

The General Assembly for the setting up of FNAPSIN took place on November 29 2007, in Bucharest. The aim of the Federation is to fight against poverty and social exclusion by:
a) strengthening the capacity of the non-governmental organizations in Romania to act in this respect;
b) promoting the involvement of the non-governmental organizations in Romania in the national and European policy in the specific and related fields;
c) informing and making the Romanian citizens aware on the principles and specific means to combat poverty, to promote freedom and human rights;
d) promoting concrete partnerships between NGO-s, the local public authorities, the public institutiuons, the church, the community and the profit sector;
e) combating discrimination of individuals, ethnic groups and social groups and communities because of poverty;
f) actions of promotion of social inclusion and sustainable development.

The founding members of FNAPSIN are:
1. The Caritas Confederation of Romania
2. The Association for Organization Development- SAH ROM
3. The Association REPERE - Bacau subsidiary
4. The Estuar Foundation
5.  World Vision Romania Foundation
6. The Association Cetatea lui Bucur 7 Centres, of Bucuresti
7. The Foundation for education
8. The Society for Contraceptive and Sexual Education
9. The Association Opportunity Associates - Romania
10. The SynergEtica Foundation, based in Bucharest
11. The Centre of Assictance for Non-Government Organiszations - CENTRAS
12. The Serviciul APEL Association
13. The Society Phoenix Carita Horezu