Social dialogue & conflict resolution mechanisms

Social dialogue and conflict resolution mechanisms in the acceding countries: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia

Prague, 14-16 January 2004

Speech abstract - Lena Skiöld

Head of Information
Work Life and EU Enlargement Project, Stockholm

Work Life and EU Enlargement Project – key themes and future plans

The Work Life and EU Enlargement Project is a co-operation project aimed at facilitating the candidate countries’ accession to the European Union by practical work in projects and programmes. In total, there are 25 practical implementation projects and six comprehensive network programmes, all dealing with various aspects of working life. The WLE Project is run by the Swedish National Labour Market Board on commssion by the Swedish government and in co-operation with the EU-level social partners, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, among others.

The WLE project started in 2001 and is now drawing to a close. Four central themes have emerged:

1. active labour market
   The process of industrial restructuring is proceeding in all the countries, but it is not a single development and in many regions there is a serious imbalance between labour supply and demand. It is not surprising that many countries have focussed on active labour market policies in their projects.

2. risks at work
   In the acceding countries, as elsewhere, the issue is not only to create more jobs, but also jobs with good working conditions. Necessary legislation generally exists, but implementaion may still be difficult.The projects within WLE have dealt mainly with assessing and managing risks, and with the issue of reaching the small companies.

3. social dialogue
   The WLE has aimed to involve the social partners in all countries in order to support the process of social dialogue and to achieve sustainable results in projects and programms. We think the WLE project has contributed to increased awareness of the importance of social dialogue, but the need to further strenghten the capacities of the social partners has also been highlighted.

4. future workforce
   Populations are ageing in Europe, and workforces encompassing fewer people than before face increasing demands. This development makes quite clear the importance of the labour market situation and working conditions of women, young people, migrants, old people and people with disabilities, and several WLE projects have addressed these issues.

A concluding conference to discuss the results of the Work Life and EU Enlargement Project will be held in Sweden 26-27 April 2004.

Building on the central themes described above a Work Life Development Programme, funded by the Swedish government, will also be launched in 2004. It will be open to the new member states and the remaining candidate countries.