Based to the planned activities of the project “Increasing capacities and strengthening the role of regional CSOs for improving labour conditions and labour dialogue with public institutions”, on 7-th of December, in Tirana was held Cross-sector meeting.
The objective of the meeting was:
- Identification of needs, shortcomings and problems of civil society organizations, trade unions organizations and media, their involvement and policy-making in society, building partnerships between them in decision-making, encourage dialogue to improve working conditions, facilitate exchange of knowledge, skills and connections as well as increasing and expanding their influence in campaigns and advocacy in the strategic operational plans and policies at national and regional level and also raising public awareness of the importance of professional practices, social issues and civil organizations.
The invitation was for trade union organizations that operate independently or in companies, civil society organizations and media.
The meeting was attended by the following organizations: Trade Unions, Employers Organizations, representatives of Inspectorate of Labour, Media Originations, EITI Albania, different representatives of NGO’s, OSH experts, etc.
Attendee at the meeting was also Mr. Milan Petkovski, Project Manager who spoke on the development so far of the project and Mr. Fatmir Saracini, representative from KOSHA.
At the beginning of meeting the project officer, Frosina Gjino, delivered a brief presentation that was focused on results of the survey from questionnaires, completed by the participants during the Initial Meeting and about ways how to improve the communication.
This meeting was highly interactive and gave to each group of stakeholder an opportunity to demonstrate their relevant expertise and ideas for making progress in OSH field and adopt concrete joint conclusions and commitments. The participants expressed their ideas based on three main pillars:
Pillar A- How to improve labour protection with effective OSH policies and legal framework. The actual situation in Albania, based in the questioners.
Pillar B – Why we should develop and strengthen the OSH network to enhance social dialogue and to influence the results on safety and health at work.
Pillar C – Why we should establish transparency and effectiveness of the OSH system and institutions by strengthening capacities for transparent governance and effective implementation of OSH policies.
The discussions of the participants adopt concrete joint conclusions and commitments that will help to improve OSH in Albania as following;
- Building motivation and ability of employers to manage OSH risks effectively and motivation of workers to promote safer workplaces and participate in OSH consultations.
- Development and strengthening of OSH network to enhance social dialogue and to influence the results of safety and health at work.
- Increasing the ability of employers to effectively manage risk in OSH and motivation of employees to take part in consultations process of OSH issues.
- Active participation of employers and employee’s organizations in the development and implementation of actions to promote safety and health at work.
- Organization of meetings to strengthen the capacity of trade unions to represent the legitimate interests of workers on OSH practices and systems.
- Delivery of training to social partners’ representatives (employers’ and workers’ organizations) on OSH topics, according to the results of a prior training needs analysis.
- Enabling of regular representation and participation of Albanian social partners in OSH-related events organized by national and international institutions.
- Encouragement of the involvement of union representatives and senior management representatives in each inspection visit.
- Carrying out of OSH risk assessment by employers and involvement in this process the representative of workers or representatives of Safety and Health Councils.
- Inclusion of OSH requirements in any contract for the purchase of goods or services, employment offers and collective bargaining etc.
Current and emerging problem in the OSH sector, is the lack of OSH experts and is needed immediate training and certification for them. The member of OSH network decided to prepare and send a letter to the Minister of Labor, in which requires creation of a legal mechanism that will train and certify experts. Also, the members of network requested support from the BALcanOSH.net in solving of this problem.
The visibility of the meeting was according to the project rules and at the end of the meeting were distributed visibility materials for each participant. This meeting created lasting communication channels between all stakeholders of Albanian OSH network and raised visibility of project activities.
