Project

Introduction

After two years of meetings and exchange of experiences between fire-fighters' union workers' representatives from many European countries (EPSU fire-fighters' network), on October 29^th 2007 EPSU, the European Public Services Union - representing more than 8 million men and women workers from 215 trade unions in 36 European countries - issued the Charter for the Rights of European Fire-fighters

This is a breakthrough serving as a starting point for full recognition of fire-fighters' social value and for improving their working conditions, in terms of rights, protections and pay. Valuing workers' potential while at the same time reducing the risks and discomfort they are exposed to cannot but improve the service quality, and - in the light of the dangers that the thrust to anthropization of European countries takes with it - the protection standards and level of safeguard for both people and the environment.

Now, if the idea is commonly accepted that the more workers are safe, happy and satisfied with their working conditions, the greater the benefits for communities and their representatives, then it goes without saying that effective and qualified union representation will become an essential pre-requisite.

Starting from the contents of the Charter, we maintain and reiterate that the development of specific and well-targeted information and training pathways for union workers' representatives, aimed at providing them with specific and shared knowledge and skills, would be extremely positive to meet the needs of representatives and populations, and cannot but raise the interest of European, national and local institutions.

In cross-border areas there should be agreements between public authorities regulating how fire-fighters from different countries can assist each other. Agreements should contain provisions for the compatibility of firefighting equipment, firefighting procedures and the safety of fire-fighters. Fire-fighters who are involved in cross-border firefighting operations or rescues shall be covered for pay and insurance purposes exactly as if they were in their own country.

By funding the project called EU FIRE 41, the European Union itself has envisaged the development of an international action force for the Mediterranean, composed of fire-fighters from the countries belonging to this region of Europe, and having similar climatic and environmental conditions and a common geomorphology to be kept under constant scrutiny for the risk of earthquakes.
( See DG Environment - Civil Protection - Cross-border pilot projects - development of cross-border modules for the staff and equipment of some member States (France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, and Slovenia), on the website http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil/prote/pdfdocs/eu_fire_4.pdf )

Therefore, there is an even stronger need for setting up a European coordination network of fire-fighters in Europe. Such a network should first and foremost rely upon mutual understanding of information and training rights and practices, in order to streamline interoperability well beyond the shared knowledge of technicalities, albeit important.

Common knowledge enables players from different countries to work fruitfully together. This is even more essential in areas like the Mediterranean where joint work has already been a reality for many years by now, even in tragic situations.

Fire-fighters should be treated no differently from any other worker for the purpose of general health and safety legislation. This means that there should be no exclusion of fire-fighters from EC Directives relating to the health and safety of workers.

Employers should take all necessary steps to assess risks properly and to systematically monitor the health and safety of fire-fighters. They should involve trade unions fully, as called for by the EU health and safety directives.

As already said in the beginning, one of the strongest reasons behind the idea of developing an information and training project for the benefit of European fire-fighters' union representatives lies with achieving the targets set out in the EPSU fire-fighters' Charter, and among them first and foremost to promote the health and safety of workers.

This is an extremely sensitive issue when talking about manual workers, and even the more so for a work highly exposed at a risk of occupational accidents, like that of fire-fighters. Clearly enough, risk exposure varies depending on the level of organisation of the fire and rescue service, and the capacity of union representatives to play a role to this end, in order to protect firefighters' health and safety. Therefore, it is even more important for union representatives to insist upon the need for information and training, with a view to improving general working conditions.

Considering the different starting points of the various nations involved, we firmly believe that cross-border information and training might provide union representatives with more effective action tools quantitatively and qualitatively, both in terms of choices to be made for managing the tools at a European level, and in terms of positive spillover for improving working conditions in individual countries.

Fire-fighters' employers, as well as national (or regional) governments through national fire standards committees, should agree in negotiation with trade union an occupational health and safety policy covering all fire-fighters.

This project aims at fostering exchange of experiences between those countries that have already made considerable steps forward towards a culture of information and training as a tool for an advanced role of union representatives - and whose experience is undoubtedly important - and other countries where such a culture is not so widespread. In short, the project is intended to pave the way for ever more fruitful relations, and this to put a premium on international training.

With a yet stronger reason, therefore, we would like to share - not only with representatives from the European countries bordering the Mediterranean that have historically been members of the European Union, but also with the new member States and candidate countries - a draft project of information and training that should rely upon the exchange of institutional and organisational information about the public service provided and where workers' rights do stand and take hold, through an in-depth analysis of contracts and rules for workers' information and consultation, as set forth by negotiations with employers.

All the material produced within the framework of the project will undergo two major stages: 1) information gathering and filing, and 2) a training initiative with two workshops held for European union and workers' representatives.

To promote a culture of information and training, the exchange of individual experiences from real life is going to be of great interest. These are also going to be integrated with ad-hoc common language developed on the occasion of meetings between national fire-fighters' union workers' representatives and EPSU representatives.

GENERAL GOAL OF THE PROJECT

The project aims at raising the level of understanding of fire-fighters' union workers' representatives, by establishing a closer link between information and consultation activities, and a deeper knowledge of general and specific well-structured findings. As a matter of fact, active involvement into procedures requires in-depth knowledge of the focus of procedures themselves, or at least management capabilities, making use of all the tools provided by the project to this end (from preliminary to ordinary and extraordinary meetings; from exchanges between European workers' representatives and EPSU representatives to meetings with experts, and contacts with both national and European trade unions). As the acquisition of a European bargaining culture is a long and complex process, there is a need for developing a common framework of knowledge and practical negotiations of workers' representatives.

Not only have the meetings held so far between European fire-fighters' union representatives produced the Fire-fighters' Charter drawn up by EPSU, but they have also shown that internal communication was facilitated by the use of a common language. It was also possible to share perceptions and concerns about the specific issues posed in every single country by their institutional, organisational and union framework. And this serves the purpose of developing a European common stance, instead of a series of individual opinions, thus contributing to an easy-flowing dialogue between union representatives and their public or private counterparts called upon to manage public services, as well as to a constructive approach to industrial relations. Nor can experts only be tasked with facilitating relations between groups, as they are called upon to perform other functions.

Generally speaking, the project aims at emphasizing the strategic importance of the European culture of social dialogue for union workers' representatives who are those who make the most of the information acquired, and put it into practice at all levels, including consultation. And this by taking a constructive approach to relations between union representatives and public services managers.

As learned from the experience gained in those countries where for some time workers' representatives have acquired information and consultation rights, the training towards the development of such a culture for workers' representatives should be provided at two levels: 1) a more general baseline training, and 2) a more advanced training on specific issues.

A more general training is going to be provided mainly to the workers' representatives who are familiar with basic rights, and this not only for protection purposes, but also to improve the information and consultation rights they are entitled to by national legislation in co-operation with their membership unions.
Advanced training is going to be focussed on specific issues, for workers' representatives to acquire negotiating and managing capacities, namely when faced with change processes or crisis management of the service.

SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE PROJECT

Building initial baseline knowledge for workers' representatives. The goal being the exchange of knowledge and experiences between fire-fighters' representatives from different European Mediterranean countries, namely fostering stable and ongoing interaction between workers' representatives from the countries that have a more fully-established tradition of workers' involvement, and workers' representatives from countries that do not still have a stable framework for workers' collective representation and involvement in national social relations. The ultimate goal is to think about the need for developing training sets of baseline knowledge for all the workers' representatives, irrespective of their country of origin, the institutional status of the fire and rescue service, and the way it is organised in individual countries. The training modules will cover the following matters:

Health and safety;
Fire-fighters' organisational patterns, staff members, and budget allocated;
Types of man-made and environmental risks;
Types of ordinary and extraordinary emergencies;
Statistics on deaths, accidents whilst on duty, and occupational diseases;
Working conditions, pension and insurance rights;
Working time, pay, and career development;
Model of social representation;
Role of volunteers and their integration with professional fire-fighters.

All this with a view to eliminating cultural gaps and paving the way to further exchanges of knowledge.

Building an Advanced Culture for workers' representatives. The goal being stimulating an open-minded approach to the exchange of knowledge and experiences between workers' representatives. This is helpful to foster greater co-operation and set up an information network focussed on specific issues of the service and sector that are too often subject to personal interpretations and implementations when disputes arise. This also serves the purpose of preparing workers' representatives from different countries to acquire all the information needed, with the support of national and European trade unions, to learn how to make use of it, get to a more efficient management of information and consultation procedures (for example when decentralisation or re-arrangement of the service are needed and skill transfer is required). These are all examples where differences in workers' protection systems are marked.

Given the marked differences of not only national industrial relations, but also of the socio-economic conditions of some EU member States, it is of paramount importance to foster a more direct and robust dialogue between participants, with a view to promoting a European culture of social dialogue in services based on the following:

Quality-based development of the European social model and European model of public services (and their governance):

Increased reliability and empowerment of all stakeholders;
Development of best practices as a bridge between the past and the future;
Promote a culture of life-long learning for workers' representatives, which should rely upon a regular exchange between them of even the simplest information whatsoever.

Participants come from countries whose fire-fighters' union relations are varied. Some are more advanced, others lag behind, as highlighted in the European meetings held so far thanks to EPSU, and that have resulted in the Fire-fighters' Charter.

These differences are even greater between the Mediterranean countries of Europe that have attended the European meetings and now make up the target group of the project. On top of the differences in union relations, there are also differences in the efficiency and effectiveness of fire and rescue services. This is why when facing natural disasters of the same order or degree, the response may be more or less qualified.

Therefore, one of the major goals of a project like this one, which aims to develop a common strategy for health and safety, will be highlighting the different starting points of the countries involved. And this to the benefit of the recipients of the project information and training action, i.e. Fire-fighters' union representatives belonging to national and European unions from Croatia, Greece Italy, Malta Portugal, Slovenia and Spain and the European Public Service Union Federation (EPSU)

TARGETS AND PRIORITIES

This project is in line with the aims of the budget headings, in particular with a view to:

Developing a trade union common strategy to protect the health and safety of European fire-fighters from the European Mediterranean region, and - through increased information and training of their union representatives - improving working conditions, as set forth in the European Fire-fighters' Charter issued by EPSU on October 29th 2007.

Establishing a common bargaining culture for the representatives of workers of fire fighting services from EU member States and/or candidate countries.

Active involvement of union representatives from new member States (NMS) and candidate countries.

TRANSNATIONAL DIMENSION OF THE PROJECT

The following countries will be directly involved in the project activities: Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. The project aims at strengthening the collaboration between these countries already started with their joint work within EPSU.
Namely, the involvement of new member States and candidate countries is deemed useful at all stages of the project, to clarify the level of participation of fire-fighters' union representatives in information and consultation procedures within the framework of their relations with fire and rescue service managers at a local level.

For some countries - namely those where the involvement of workers in industrial relations and social dialogue is still poor - direct participation of national and EPSU union representatives into the project would offer them the opportunity of increasing their knowledge about European and Community experiences, as well as provide them with tools to strengthen their role of social partners.

hssfmed.eu

PROJECT'S DETAILED WORK PROGRAMME