Equal Opportunities and Labor Rights
Equal Opportunities and Labor Rights
In December 2006 the European Commission launched a broad public debate on the need to review current labour law systems. According to the European Commission, the key policy challenge is to provide a “flexible and inclusive labour market”: a major concern of the Romanian NGOs in relation to labour law is to open new opportunities for “more and better jobs”, as it was originally formulated in European Union’s Lisbon strategy.
The Romanian National strategy took into account the revised Lisbon Strategy and embraces a range of issues that focus on increasing investment in education and learning, engaging education with the world of work, attracting and retaining more people in employment, increasing labour supply to meet demand, improving adaptability and entrepreneurship and promoting equality and social inclusion.
In this context, the quality of work is an important issue: Anti-discrimination, promotion equal opportunities within the labor market, health and safety protection. This also concerns churches and church-related organizations as employers.
The aims of the program are:
Prevention of illegal work, force migration and of trafficking in human beings under the context of Romania’s EU membership
Increasing the level of knowledge among women and young people about the impact that Romania’s EU membership has on the labor market, equal opportunities and gender mainstreaming at national and European level
Focus group
Direct beneficiaries:
Young persons from the terminal years in different education institutions – to receive information on the existing national and international legislation, on their rights and responsibilities in order to face the challenges of the labour market to prevent illegal migration and the phenomenon of trafficking in persons.
Unemployed people or people looking for a job
Indirect beneficiaries:
Different social actors: trade unions’ federations and confederations, central and local institutions and authorities, education institutions, churches etc, parents of the students from the terminal years.
Mass media – for more active involvement in promoting the needs of the community.
Activities:
1. Lobby and Advocacy for “Promotion of the social dialogue between management and employees”
2. Prevention programs: seminars targeting young people (students, workers, unemployed), Trade union representatives, Church representatives; presenting the new concept of „Decent Work”, legal aspects connected to employment of young people, job offers from well-known enterprises and firms, opportunities of employment for graduators
3. Educational and information sessions in high schools and vocational schools - educational campaign “An informed person is a secured person”
4. Counselling activities in the 4 Centres from Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj and Hunedoara
The identified target groups from the Counseling Centers:
« young unemployed people looking for a job
« young girls with different disabilities
« young graduated women (of high-schools, vocational schools and faculties) looking for a job
« women working in the garment factories;
« women over 40 years old, unemployed, looking for a job.
« in majority of cases, women are offered lower paid jobs, and it is more difficult for them to apply and occupy a better paid job;
« people applied for a job in other countries, leaving at home their families and children; consequently, the danger of school abandon is very high, and advises for young graduated of high schools and vocational schools is extremely important;
Problems approached:
- unemployed person’s rights and the right of persons seeking for a job;
- anticipated retirement - advantages and disadvantages;
- small possibilities to start a new carrier: what are the possibilities and when to look for them, the differences between the expectations and the reality and how to adapt to them etc.
- personal empowerment: how to be more self confident, who to use all the skills and competencies, other than used during the previous job, when seeking a new job or starting a private business;
- necessity for continuous vocational training, especially in the economic changes context;
- importance of permanent information, different sources of information and how to use them regardless the age: initiation in navigating on the Internet;
