Southeastern Europe

Southeastern Europe Solidarity Center work in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia includes programs on ending gender-based violence and harassment at work, occupational health and safety and union strengthening. In Albania, the Solidarity Center works to strengthen cooperation among unions in traditional sectors and increase the capacity of unions in emerging industries. Programs include assisting the two main teachers’ unions in negotiating a nationwide collective bargaining agreement that protects working conditions and member education on their rights as teachers. Through member education and organizing support, the Solidarity Center has worked to strengthen a telecommunications union to better represent workers in Albania’s growing telecom and call-center industries. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Solidarity Center works with unions to ensure that national labor laws are enforced throughout the country and, through workshops with union leaders and members, assists workers in understanding and enforcing workplace safety legislation. In Montenegro, the Solidarity Center works with union partners to address environmental and occupational health and safety issues for historically disenfranchised workers, who formed a union branch in a national union confederation with Solidarity Center assistance. Partnering with the Solidarity Center, Serbian unions created a national network of trade union activists to coordinate union activities and improve the quality of workplace safety and health monitoring, and are looking to use collective bargaining to expand occupational safety and health protections for all workers, regardless of whether they are union members. With Solidarity Center support, Serbian unions are developing provincial occupational safety and health committees to improve safety at work in non-unionized workplaces. The local and regional programs enable unions to strengthen interactions with government agencies, occupational physicians and civil society groups to improve local environmental conditions.