Nadia Vassileva Round Table – Zagreb, 2013 July 1st 2013

1.Introduction 2.How Bulgaria adopted the directive – weak and strong points of the law, what went good? 3.How does that translate at national level? 4.Recommendations

The most important outcome from a successful social dialogue is development of an adequate strategy in order to reach appropriate regulation locally Temporary agency work is often vulnerable for abuses of workers, if it is not regulated and we need to differenciate “good” players from “bad” players Too much regulation is narrowing the room for agency work Investing in social dialogue about good practices is desired

Usually Unions or inappropriate legislation impose complexity We need to bring this down as much as possible so that we eliminate bureaucracy and focus on creating jobs Government has to be business friendly Help companies with job creation through different boosts and benefits Creation of employment service board is essential To estimate through statistics the good that our sector is doing To prove that private employment agencies are part of the solution, not the problem Areas of cooperation between Public and Private Employment Agencies Use of common terminology and pooling of information Job vacancy exchange Agreements to launch joint projects Training of staff Consultations to improve professional practices

BG Staffing was created after Mrs. Anne Marie Munz has visited Bulgaria in 2008 The association started the process of identification the key players and decision makers on the market EuroCiett iniciated a Round Table in Sofia in December 2009 – which gave a boost to the dialogue with the policymakers, to ensure the regulation on agency work in Bulgaria – this was the beggining of the open dialogue with the key stakeholders Unfortunatelly the social dialogue was not effective as there was no understanding between the parties Despite the efforts to have a constructive dialogue the Unions are not having relevant understanding as they believe agencies are not healthy for the market as they incourage precurious or illegal work

Successful outcome: Capability building and membership development to improve our capacity to act as the voice of business for the TAW industry We focused to strengthen our image and reputation with key stakeholders Using better the opportunities of social dialogue to advocate for business concerns Lobbing and advocacy to assure a business friendly regulative environment for our sector Regulation achieved, but not with the desired result Directive was adopted with lots of restrictions European Commission was informed about the case and still waiting for action Experience in developing social dialogue: Meetings with unions, making them understand how private agencies help the labour market Meetings with Ministry of Labor and Social Policy explaining the benefits of regulating the industry in an appropriate way with less restrictions Meetings with Agency of Employment sharing the experience from other countries Cooperation with Employers’ Organisations explaining the benefits of temopary employment for the business Round Tables Sectorial meetings

Ability to offer the full range of labor contracts (no limitation of restrictions) Removal of key restrictions on the use of AW No limitations of services to be delivered No unjustified and inappropriate barriers to enter the market Access to training for agency workers Private Agencies are involved in the fight against illegal practices and unethical agencies

Thanks! Questions?