On 13-14 June workers and representatives from the Croatian care union RIS (Regionalni industrijski sindikat) got together in Stubičke Toplice, Croatia, for a capacity building training on strengthening collective bargaining and organising.
The meeting feeds into UNI Europa’s priority of strengthening unions’ capacity building at both national and EU level.
The workshop is part of a series of events organised in the framework of the EU co-funded project “BARSERVICE: Building Bargaining Capacity in Europe’s Service Sector”.
This project aims to provide a comprehensive, multi-country analysis of collective bargaining systems in the service sector and use it to devise a strategy for those counries
to best focus efforts in those countries that need it the most.
With its 79 per cent coverage, the union density in Croatian public social care union is relatively high. However, the same cannot be said for the private sector where union presence remains fragmented, with limited employer engagement.
The training brought together 15 participants from across Croatia, including personal assistants and care workers from both NGO and private care providers who engaged in activities and discussions to support them in organising, leadership development and collective bargaining strategies.
Together they explored:
- understanding and making use of organising and bargaining as the two sides of the same coin;
- strengthening union structures and shop steward roles;
- practicing communication skills and campaign planning;
- mapping workplaces, building issue-based strategies and engaging members in collective bargaining.
Research insight
Hrvoje Butković, scientific advisor at the institute for development and international relations, Zagreb, Croatia, and co-author of the BARSERVICE research paper Towards Smart Bargaining in the Care Sector in Croatia shared research insights on the current state and future potential of collective bargaining in the Croatian social care sector. He also gathered feedback and firsthand experiences from the attendees which will be included in the research and literature.
Groundbreaking developments
Participants included four workers from a large private nursing home that only recently signed the first ever agreement for the Croatian private care, a landmark achievement in advancing rights in a previously unregulated area.
Another group of attendees, personal assistants from an NGO employer, shared their recent experience of initiating a bargaining process, demonstrating the growing need for formal representation and improved working conditions across the care sector.
The workshop fostered rich peer exchange and solidarity which were highlighted by all participants. Domagoj and Marjana, for example, found useful and empowering the space this kind of workshop creates for them to communicate and learn from other workers across sectors.
If you want to know more about our organising and capacity building work, please see our organising page.
Contact: Andoni Iriondo, Project coordinator for organising and collective bargaining.
The “BARSERVICE: building bargaining capacity in Europe’s services sector” project is supported by the European Commission.