In Chisinau took place an international conference “Specialized labour courts – a reform option for the Republic of Moldova?”

The need to establish specialized courts for quality solving of labour disputes that would ensure the protection of labour rights and social guarantees of workers from the Republic of Moldova, was the subject of discussions at the international conference “Specialized labour courts – a reform option for the Republic of Moldova? “. The event took place on Friday, the 18^th of March, in Chisinau, being organized by Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung (FES), in partnership with the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) and the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ).

At the conference were presented and discussed recommendations of the study “Specialized courts in labour disputes. An assessment of their need in the Republic of Moldova” carried out by FES, which presents four additional models of capacity for solving labour disputes in the judicial system in our country. The authors consider that they can serve as guidance for central public authorities with decision-making powers to continue the reform in the justice sector.

According to Oleg Budza, president of CNSM, the main reasons that conditioned the need to address the issue of the creation of specialized courts in labour disputes are the numerous appeals of employees in the courts, delay in their solving, low quality of examining labour disputes and overspending on services of legal assistance.

“The experience of European countries in matter of labour jurisdiction shows that specialized labour courts ensure the effective protection of legitimate rights and interests of employees, employers and their representatives. At the initiative of trade unions, this problem was addressed in 2014 in a meeting with experts from Sweden, representatives of the International Labour Office, central public authorities from the Republic of Moldova, the Centre for Human Rights, where it was found that the imposition of specialized courts became the imperative of the day,” said the trade union leader.

Attending the opening of the conference, Andrian Candu, Chairman of the Moldovan Parliament, encouraged trade unions to come up with concrete proposals to address the authorities, so that the most relevant issues to be included in draft amendments to legislation and processes to optimize the judiciary system.

“Today we have some issues concerning the organization of the courts – heavy workload judges have and their insufficient specialization in certain fields. It is important that the judges know very well the matter of labour, only then employees will be truly protected, “said Candu.

With an introductory speech also came Pirkka Tapiola, Head of the EU Delegation in Chisinau. He stressed the importance of improving the quality of justice by training of judges in the field of labour rights.” It is pleasing that the training would not involve major financial resources for the Republic of Moldova, but its impact would be very high,” the official said.

A special panel within the discussions was dedicated to international experience in the field of specialized courts in labour disputes, where were presented the German, Swedish and Romanian models.

In conclusion, the participants of the international conference found that joint efforts of all relevant parties will contribute enormously to the dynamic process of reforming the justice in respect of the labour jurisdiction, including increasing the efficiency of decision making and executing acts of justice but also to simplify the trial procedure, to improve the quality and efficiency of labour justice and restore confidence of employees with justice.

The event was attended by representatives of law enforcement bodies, magistrates, policy makers, representatives of trade unions, employers, civil society, international organizations, academia and media.

More pictures of the event can be seen on our Facebook page.

Department of mass-media and international relations