1. BSLN Baltic Sea Labour Network Working together for sustainable labour markets Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Baltic Sea Network on Occupational Health and Safety, 8 October 2009 in Riga Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg

2. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 2 Motivation  BSR labour market handled by national labour market actors  Strong global competitiveness forces BSR to innovative products & services  Insufficient organisation of labour market on transnational level

3. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 3 Aims and goals of BSLN  BSLN looks for solutions to impacts of the economic crisis and mobility of labour in the Baltic Sea labour markets by using active labour market policies and social dialogue  Projects’ focus countries are Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.  A permanent BSLN Forum will be created by making use of existing international structures and bodies.

4. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 4 Aims and goals of BSLN Political dimensions  BSLN is directly linked to the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC)  Outcomes of the project can be directly channelled to the political decision makers in parliaments and governments of the region  The BSLN is a flagship project of the EU Baltic Sea Strategy  The flagship projects are projects presented in the Commission Action Plan and have high significance. Thus, the BSLN has a possibility to influence policies concerning the Baltic Sea labour markets through the EU strategy  The BSLN will also build a contact network with EU parliamentarians

5. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 5 Main topics of the project  Mobility of labour  Active labour market policy  Training and education / human resources development Project slogan Baltic Sea Labour Network – Working Together for Sustainable Labour Markets

6. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 6 Themes  Labour mobility & migration processes (Immigration / emigration / Integration policy, “brain drain”)  Demographic & labour market changes (Workers’ rights, legislation, ILO standards)  Innovation and qualification  Corporite Social Responsibility

7. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 7 Goals on transnational level  Supporting policy making & content preparation based on accurate information and analyse  Supporting political processes  Social dialogue/ tripartite cooperation  Focus on Baltic Sea Region as whole  Outcomes: BSLN-forum (network of knowledge), political agenda, publications

8. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 8 Transnational level in practice  Project management / project structure  Tripartite Steering Committee, tripartite Facilitator Team  Getting together the relevant actors  Seminars, conferences, working groups  Research, political initiatives, social impact, knowledge transmission  Coordination of the pilot projects and common campaigns

9. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 9 Goals on national level  Capacity building of social partners  Establishment of national coordination centres in focus countries  Pilot projects in focus countries  1st pilot: Call Centre for migrant workers in Sweden

10. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 10 National level in practice  Organisation  National coordinators in every partner country  Coordination centres in the focus countries Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland  Establishment of a cooperation network, mobilisation (TU, employers, research, politics, other organisations, media)  Social impact  Content provision  Research  “lobbying”  National pilot projects / campaigns

11. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 11 Project structure: Who we are

12. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 12 Project structure: What we do

13. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 13 Status of work Joint transnational activities  Tripartite Forum on Mobility of Labour in the Baltic Sea Region was held on 25 November 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was organised by Baltic Sea Labour Network (BASTUN) and Council of Nordic Trade Unions (NFS), Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and partly financed by the EU. The forum was the first event of the "Baltic Sea Labour Network" project. The outcomes of the Forum will be used as basis for further work in connection to the mobility of labour.  The BSLN Research Working Group meeting was organised on 18 September 2009.

14. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 14 Status of work  The 18th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) was held on 31 August-1 September in Nyborg, Denmark. Since 2007 the BSPC Working Group on Labour Market and Social Affairs has focused on cross-border labour markets and youth unemployment in the Baltic Sea Region.  Based on the working group’s recommendations, the Conference Resolution regarding labour market and Social Affairs seeks ‘to make labour market and social welfare issues a priority task on the agenda of the CBSS, taking into account the work and results of the Baltic Sea Labour Network (BSLN)’.

15. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 15 Main tasks and activities  Two further conferences are planned during the project running time: a midterm conference in Vilnius, Lithuania 2010 and a final conference 2011 in Hamburg, Germany.  The conferences will also be related to the main project aims mobility of labour, and active labour market policies. The results of the research work are the basis for the conference topics.

16. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 16 Main tasks and activities  The BSLN team is preparing a campaign “Talking to EU Parliamentarians” about labour market issues in the Baltic Sea region  The aims of the campaign are:  To increase awareness and understanding among EU parliamentarians of Baltic Sea labour market issues  To establish an exhaustive PR and cooperation network with key EU parliamentarians dealing with labour markets and the Baltic Sea regional policies  To motivate EU parliamentarians to collaborate and contribute to the BSLN.

17. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 17 Main tasks and activities  BSLN PR Network/Register will be established. It is a tool to reach the target groups during and after the project. The register will be technically established; relevant contacts will be collected and registered. Relevant information will be distributed to selected target groups as needed.  BSLN supports the World Day for Decent Work, launched by its’ partner ITUC

18. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 18 Research activities  The aim of the BSLN - Research Working Group (RWG) is to gather crucial information on the labour markets in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), according to the BSLN main working areas  The RWG will allocate accurate and detailed information and offer a pool of knowledge to all project partners  The working group is the platform for the establishment of the Network of Knowledge. External Experts and research institutions will be integrated to the network. The results of the work will be translated into pilot projects and serve as best practice examples. Furthermore, the gathered information will be used for policies and solution models.  The 1st BSLN Research Working Group meeting was organized on 18 September 2009

19. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 19 Research activities Research focuses of the partners  Fostering the social dialogue and exchanging information on gained experiences with economic crisis are comprehensive aims in the focus countries  The partner’s research-focuses are mainly located in the main working areas mobility of labour and active labour market policy. In some cases the partners have overlapping priorities

20. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 20 Research activities Setting priorities on the transnational level  In general one important focus on the transnational level is to make high quality data accessible  All issues related to social dialogue and economic crisis are also on the transnational level of high priority  The priorities for the research activities lay in the main working areas mobility of labour and active labour market policy  The transition from school to work is in the interest of group members in the field of training and education. This main working area will become even more important when the pilot projects are developed

21. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 21 Framework Partners and associate partners  Kooperationsstelle Hamburg (Lead Partner)  National Trade Union confederations from all BSR countries  Transnational Trade Union Confederations (BASTUN, NFS, ITUC)  Employer Organisations (Baltic States and Germany)  Governments (CBSS)  Parliamentarians (BSPC)  Project duration: 36 months  Budget: about 2.7 Mio. EUR

22. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 22 The Steering Committee  Is a high-level body encompassing representatives of tripartite cooperation and serving as a platform for strategic and political decision making of the project and the development of the BSLN Forum  Is a preparatory body for the “Pan-Baltic Labour Policy Agenda”, which includes outcomes of the project and will be drafted during the project  Agrees upon the proposal of the Facilitator Team on transnational strategies and planned activities. The Committee addresses to relevant international organisations and bodies of the Baltic Sea Region and beyond

23. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 23 The Steering Committee  Consists of 3 employer representatives, 3 employee representatives, 1 representative of intergovernmental organisation and 1 parliamentarian. Each representative of the Steering Committee has a deputy to substitute the former in case of absence  Convenes once or twice per year. All the representatives and deputy representatives are provided by documentation pertaining to the meetings. At the Steering Committee meetings the Facilitator Team is represented by the project manager and representatives of social partners

24. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 24 Contact Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt Kooperationsstelle Hamburg Besenbinderhof 60 20097 Hamburg, Germany phone: +49 (0)40 2858-637 fax: +49 (0)40 2858-641 email: k.roebbelen-voigt@kooperationsstelle-hh.de web: www.kooperationsstelle-hh.de www.bslabour.net

25. BSLN presentation – Katariina Röbbelen-Voigt | Kooperationsstelle Hamburg 25 BSLN Baltic Sea Labour Network www.bslabour.net Thank you very much for your attention and your contributions.