What is the current structure of trade unions, professional associations and NGOs active in labour rights in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine? What are the steps to avoid fragmentation of the labour movement in these countries?

Today the CELSI team said goodbye to our colleague Mária Sedláková and wished her good luck in her new job at the ILO in Geneva.

While a part of the CELSI team continued working on research projects or enjoyed a new life in the family, the rest of us took a trip to Bradlo and honored the memory of M. R. Štefánik with a bouquet with the tricolor.

Yesterday, with the SGI Institute team, we closed a series of regional round tables with a webinar on the work integration of the disabled, during which we presented research findings from the project ´I want to work, who can help me ?.

On Tuesday, we moved from Košice 🚘 to Banská Bystrica, where we again presented the results of the project ´I want to work, who can help me?´ to the representatives of the state sector, local and regional self-government and the non-governmental sector on the employment of people with disabilities in Slovakia, referring to the experience in Norway. The discussion on this topic was lively again, where participants pointing to the need to strengthen the cooperation between actors, both in the area of information exchange and more effective coordination of services, which is particularly crucial for the integration of people with multiple disabilities.

Earlier this week, the CELSI team together with the SGI Institute team, presented the findings from our project ´I want to work, who can help me?´ on the cooperation of organizations in the integration of people with disabilities into the labor market. In the discussion, regional actors from trade unions, the non-governmental and state sectors of the Košice region pointed out the need to strengthen the transition of disadvantaged workers from sheltered employment to the open labor market, for example by strengthening supported employment agencies.

CELSI´s research team gathered to discuss the mission, vision, and work plans of CELSI.

ARTUS-CEE project partners met on-line to discuss the progress and the next steps in their research work.

CELSI hosted an online workshop titled Close the gender pay gap in the public services in the context of austerity. Presented case studies from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia provided evidence of successful and less successful strategies of the trade unions addressing the low wages and working conditions in the women-dominated public services.

Read CELSI´s first policy brief on policy responses to COVID-19 pandemics in 20 countries.