From 1 to 3 June 2023 took place in Bucharest / Romania a seminar about “Current challenges for workers in the judiciary sector”, organised by EUROFEDOP (Europese Federatie van het Overheidspersoneel), in cooperation with EZA and funded by the European Union.
The seminar discussed the current challenges for workers in the justice sector from different angles. Participants and speakers also compared different approaches and regulations in the different European countries, for example in Ireland, Romania or Serbia.
During the opening speeches, the different requirements and characteristics needed to work in prison and probation were outlined. Furthermore, opportunities brought about by digitalization were discussed. The greatest opposition to digitalization in Serbia for example is the top-down approach, whereas trade unions think the introduction of digital working methods should follow a bottom-up approach. In Austria, the judicial system is highly digitalized, which has many benefits.
In addition, digitalization can be used as an argument and ‘weapon’ by trade unions to achieve certain goals. Regarding outsourcing, all participants and speakers agreed that experiments with outsourcing certain tasks of the justice sector have not yielded any positive results. With regards to professional development in prison and probation, several EU projects were presented, including cooperation projects that are still open for new members to join.
During the working group sessions, participants worked separately on the topics training and professional development on the one hand, and outsourcing on the other hand. The conclusions contained that trade unions must offer alternatives to outsourcing, and regarding the staff shortage prevalent all over Europe, young people in schools and Colleges need to be reached out to. Staff is more motivated if they know there are possibilities for career development and people regard their job as a true career path, including opportunities for training and advancement. This is why trade unions also need to be active in planning training and differentiate between the type and content of a training, such as induction trainings, general trainings, training programmes for specialists, and so on. Training and development of staff is a key factor to perform all relevant roles to a professional standard. With regards to outsourcing, trade unions need to oppose this trend and they need to be innovative in their responses to outsourcing proposals.
Finally, the seminar also discussed the topic of mental health in prison and probation from a staff perspective. Several projects and a White Paper were presented.
Discussions centred around different aspects of mental health and its perception by employees and society, as well as the so-called stigma that is still attached to somebody suffering from mental health issues. It is interesting to understand that one cannot focus only on the individual when it comes to mental health, but the whole working environment and organisational structure needs to be considered. There are mental health literacy projects and perception, and awareness is slowly shifting in all countries.
Drawing a conclusion, one can say that participants from different countries exchanged very valuable information and experiences on how to approach current challenges in the justice sector. Every country has different experiences to tackle these challenges, but most structural problems are very similar, so discussions were fruitful and mind-opening.
The issue of staff shortage, which strongly affects public services and thereby also the practical implementation of the rule of law and democracy, will be tackled at the next Eurofedop seminar which will take place in September in the premises of the European Parliament.