http://www.epsu.org/article/new-forms-service-delivery-municipalities-good-practice-health-and-safety
CEMR and EPSU organized the final conference in Barcelona to
discuss the final project report and recommendations on
new forms of service delivery for municipalities, the contribution of social
dialogue and well-being at work.
The
aim of the project:
- to explore new policies and forms of
restructuring in public service delivery and link it to trends and
policies on health and safety at EU Level
- identify the challenges and opportunities for
public sector workers and employers of new forms of work organization and
technological developments
- jointly evaluate and diagnose how social
partners can be supportive in these reform processes
- highlight the relationship between
restructuring and the well-being at work and the prevention and
implementation of health and safety
- provide knowledge and practices in relation to
“good restructuring” in the public sector and the role of social partners
Digitalisation,
Migration, Economic Governance and recruitment &retention strategies at the
heart of the project
Four
seminars were organized throughout the project on four areas of action
(digitalization, migration, economic governance, recruitment &retention
strategies) that had been identified as main drivers of new service delivery in
the Joint Framework of Action on Restructuring on Local Government. Two
seminars were organized in Brussels and the two others in Zagreb and Berlin.
Four
separate reports were first produced by PSIRU (Jane Lethbridge, Director of
PSIRU) on the four areas of action which were drawn into a final project report
(50 pages).
At
the final conference in Barcelona, participants discussed the recommendations
drawn from the four workshops and how to follow-up with a concrete framework on
health and safety. The recommendations issued
are the following:
- Achieve a shared understanding by social
partners of the nature of the problem e.g. on occupational health and
safety
- Establish an effective information an
consultation process with all key stakeholders e.g. when introducing
digitalization for services users and workers
- Implement actions in an transparent way
so that all stakeholders understand what is being done, e.g. how resources
are being allocated for social integration of third-country nationals
- Gather adequate data to both inform an
analysis of a problem and to oversee the implementation of a solution
- Make public services accountable to the local
population, e.g. designing and delivering services and employment policies
which reflect local demographic trends
- Design and implement monitoring and evaluation
strategies e.g. on new forms of digital services and impact on labour
process
- Provide adequate training for workforce when
introducing new forms of service delivery e.g. new ways of addressing
occupational health and safety problems
The
conference closed with a panel debate with concrete examples on how to achieve
quality employment and delivery in public services in local administration.
Representatives from the City of Barcelona (Director of Migration), the
European Commission (DG Employment), EPSU (General Secretary) and UDITE
(Spanish representative) formulated their vision on how trade unions and
employers can shape the future of local government administrations. They took
account of the need to go beyond an agenda of achieving “more with less” in
public administrations. To continue working on the impact of digitalization and
migration on jobs and services was considered as a shared view to continue a
debate in Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee Local and Regional Government.
EPSU General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan raised the need to tackle climate
change as part of a joint agenda in cities and local government. The Director
of Migration from the City of Barcelona highlighted the natural competence of
local governments when it comes to the integration of migrants, the challenges
of undocumented migrants and the project SAIER that delivers services to
migrants in Barcelona through joint social partner approach between the city
and trade unions.
The
Social Partners in Local Government CEMR and EPSU will discuss a more concrete
framework of action at their Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on 5th of
December stemming from the conclusions of this project.
