Oleg Budza, CNSM president, discusses the objectives of cooperation with AFL-CIO and Solidarity Center in Washington DC.

Setting the priorities in the development of cooperation relations with the Solidarity Center and the American Federation of Labour – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) have been recently addressed at meetings between Oleg Budza, president of the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) with the leaders of the Solidarity Centre and representatives of the AFL-CIO, held in Washington DC, USA.

During the meeting, Oleg Budza stated that it is important for the CNSM to strengthen international relations in the field of human rights protection, to inform the international trade union bodies correctly about the strategic objectives of the CNSM and to identify long-term solutions to the current challenges of on the labour market in the context of globalization.

The CNSM president also discussed the support of the European vector of the Republic of Moldova, as approved by the  CNSM II Congress from 2012, as well as the democratic methods implemented in full compliance with the Moldova-EU Association Agreement.

The parties’ dialogue during the meetings also covered the aspects of globalization and the impact on the working people, the informal economy and the contribution of trade unions in alleviating this scourge, the American practice in creating trade union structures in transnational companies. The concrete proposals put forward as a priority in the discussion focused on the organization of educational programs at regional and national level, the provision of an exchange of experience and the transfer of knowledge for trade union trainers and recruiters, the conducting of trade union analyses with the participation of American experts.

Another aspect of the dialogue was the implementation in the Republic of Moldova of Convention 81 and Convention 129 on Labour Inspection in Industry and Trade, respectively in Agriculture, Convention 161 on Occupational Health Services. In this respect, Brian Finnegan, AFL-CIO representative and Global Worker Rights Coordinator, said AFL-CIO followed the firm position of the CNSM on the negligence of observing the work of State Labour Inspection of the Republic of Moldova. By requesting extensive information on the subsequent settlement of the complaints of the national trade unions submitted in 2013 to the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) for the assessment in this area, the AFL-CIO representative stated that the delegation of the American trade unions, that will be in June at the 107^th session of the ILO Conference in Geneva, will take account of the current situation and will help to solve the issue.

Shawna Bader-Blau, Solidarity Center Executive Director and Rudy Porter, Regional Director of Solidarity Center for Europe and Central Asia, have been positively exposed to the CNSM’s activities, appreciating the revival of the information and international politics of the trade union structure in the Republic of Moldova, and have shown an increased interest in strengthening the long-term cooperation with the CNSM.

Department of mass media and international relations