Moldovan trade unionists get familiar with European practices on collective bargaining

The trade union leaders from the regions, representatives of the national-branch trade union centres, legal and social-economic trade union representatives have gained broader knowledge of collective bargaining in the European Union and have exchanged experience and negotiation practices during the seminar held on 6 – 7 November.

The National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) organized these seminars within the educational centre “Labour Institute” and invited as an international expert Ovidiu Jurca with a rich experience in the field of labour as former main specialist for the problems of the employees at the International Bureau of Labour in Budapest, as well as for its contribution to the building of an efficient trade union system and the promotion of the interests of the trade unions in our country at international level.

On this occasion, Oleg Budza, CNSM president, remarked that the experience abroad regarding the organization of collective bargaining is very important for Moldovan trade unionists, especially in the context in which the Confederation successfully launched and carried out this year the National Campaign “Collective labour agreement – the guarantee of your rights”. In this context, he mentioned, it is increasingly necessary to have a profound knowledge of the issues of collective labour agreements negotiation at unit, branch and territorial level.

Through his intervention, Sergiu Sainciuc, CNSM vice-president, stressed that these seminars are training activities organized by the CNSM as part of the National Campaign “Collective Labour Agreement – the guarantee of your rights”, thus suggesting that it was achieved the action plan foreseen in the given context.

Speaking about EU negotiating strategies and practices, Ovidiu Jurca pointed out that these two events are trying to strengthen a set of skills and competencies for trade union representatives who are involved in the collective bargaining process for the signing of collective labour agreements at all levels in accordance with the values of the International Labour Organization and the European Union. As a result, he stressed, the level of employee representation stands up and the competence of the negotiating teams increases.

“The awareness of the citizen, worker and employer right is very important. I am glad that the Republic of Moldova is among the few countries where we have seen working in this direction, we have seen some progress,” Ovidiu Jurca said.

Department of mass media and international relations of CNSM