On June 5–7, 2025, an international seminar entitled “Capacity Building of Workers‘ Organisations in the Baltic States” was held in Vilnius/Lithuania. The seminar was organized by the Lithuanian Trade Union Solidarumas in cooperation with the European Center for Workers‘ Questions (EZA) and funded by the European Union. It was attended by 70 representatives of workers’ organisations of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Albania, the Netherlands, and Estonia.
The seminar began with a discussion on “The Implementation of the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages and Strengthening the Capacity of Social Partners.” Ms. Inga Ruginienė, Member of the Seimas and Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, presented the action plans of the Government and her Ministry. The Minister also shed light on the progress of tax reform.
Dr. Vygantas Malinauskas, lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Catholic Theology of Vytautas Magnus University, delivered to the audience an inspiring presentation entitled “The role of workers' organizations in modern society in creating the common good,” focusing on the significance of workers‘ organisations in creating the common good.
Ms. Barbara Surdykowska, an expert from the Polish trade union Solidarność, member of the Expert, Dialogue and Social Policy Office and the Social Policy Team, shared the Polish experience in developing social dialogue. She gave a presentation on "Social dialogue in regions and sectors in modern, changing conditions“.
After the coffee break, the discussion entitled “Employees in today's changing world of work. New forms of employment: remote work, part-time work, self-employment, working time, digitization,” was held, moderated by Ms. Daiva Kvedaraitė, Secretary General of the Lithuanian Trade Union Solidarumas.
The discussion was followed by a presentation on “Structural changes in the labor market and new forms of employment”, given by Dr. Tadas Leončikas, Head of the Employment Section at Eurofound. The speaker stated that despite rapid technological progress, there is still a shortage of workers in the European Union.
Mr. R.Keršys, representative of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor of the Republic of Lithuania, explained that employment relationship exists, when a person performing platform work. Robin van de Poll from the Netherlands, director of Nehem International, gave a presentation entitled “Platform work as a form of employment: practical experience in the Netherlands.” He claimed that the number of people working individually and on online platforms in the Netherlands has grown significantly in recent years and continues to grow.
In the afternoon session, a discussion on “Internal mobility of employees as a means of addressing labor shortages and employment issues” was held. Ms. Ramunė Grigienė, advisor to the Department of Measures Organisation at the Employment Service under the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, presented the mobility measures implemented by the Ministry to reduce unemployment in regions where there are no jobs. More specifically, employees receive subsidies to travel to work in the cities or towns where there is a shortage of workers.
Ms. Olga Pūkienė, Acting Head of HR Department at Vilniaus Paukštynas AB, and Ms. Ligita Maleckienė, Head of the Occupational Safety and Health at Vilniaus Paukštynas AB, spoke about the benefits that state-supported mobility measures have brought to the company and its employees.
During his presentation, Mr. Robertas Encius, Vice President of the Lithuanian Builders Association stated that members of the said Association are currently seriously considering plans to conclude collective agreements. Ms. Florie Marini, Chairwoman of the Women‘s Forum SAUATT, the Independent Albanian Trade Union of Food, Agriculture, Trade and Tourism, shared her trade union's experience in addressing seasonal employment in Albania and retraining workers with the aim of switching from traditional sectors such as agriculture and industry to new professions in services, tourism, the green economy, and high-tech sectors, as well as mitigating problems related to mobility arising from global labor market changes.
During the evening session, the discussion entitled “Representativeness of workers‘ organisations. Why is it important?” was launched, moderated by Ms. Jovita Pretzsch, Deputy Chair of the Lithuanian Trade Union Solidarumas. The discussion was attended by Mr. Slavomir Adamczyk, representative of the Polish trade union Solidarność, Ms. Anna Bondare, project manager at the Latvian Free Trade Union Confederation LBAS, and Ms. Maria Jeskova, representative of the Estonian Trade Union Confederation (EAKL), who shared their countries' best practices and problems, as well as the measures taken by their trade unions to increase their representativeness and the representation of their members at the national, sectoral, and company levels.
The following day, a challenging discussion on "Attracting and organizing new members. Renewal of trade unions and social dialogue," was held, moderated by Ms. Kristina Krupavičienė, President of the Lithuanian trade union Solidarumas.
Mr. Tomas Tomilinas, member of the Seimas, spoke about the draft law on social dialogue, which he had prepared during his previous term in office. He listened to various suggestions and comments from the seminar participants, answered their numerous questions, and promised to take into account the opinions expressed by trade unions when improving the Law on Social Dialogue and adopting other amendments to labour-related laws in the Seimas. Mr. Lukas Čapas, a lawyer at the Lithuanian Trade Union Solidarumas, presented the amendments to the Labor Code of the Republic of Lithuania.
In summary, the following conclusions were drawn and confirmed at the seminar:
1. Continuous training and education of workers and their organizational representatives on changes in the European and national labour markets is necessary.
2. State-subsidised mobility measures are very important as they help to increase employment figures. They aim to reduce unemployment in regions without jobs by subsidising travel for workers to cities with labour shortages. Some employers cover themselves the costs of their workers’ travel to work.
3. Collective agreements are beneficial for both employers and workers and improve the performance of companies as they allow more flexible application of employment regulations than it is provided in the Labour Code. Collective agreements prevent undeclared work, especially in the construction industry.
4. Support for the transposition of the Directive on improving conditions for platform workers, adopted on 13 October 2024 into national law is needed.
Platform workers do not enjoy social protection, even though this type of work is attractive to them because it allows them to organise their working time freely. However, the seminar noted that there were significant differences between native and migrant workers in terms of tax payments.
5. In Europe, between 2000 and 2023, many workers moved from industry and agriculture to the service sector. Despite rapid technological progress, there is still labour shortage in the European Union.
6. It is necessary to amend national Labour Codes on the procedure for regulating strikes, strengthen the protection of trade union leaders, promote the conclusion of collective agreements and improve the working and remuneration conditions of workers, as also provided for in the Minimum Wage Directive.
7. Good conditions must be created for the work of workers' organisations. To adopt relevant laws promoting social dialogue in EU member countries is therefore supported. The adoption of such laws would improve worker representation, strengthen workers' organisations and increase their membership. The idea for such a law arose from an exchange of experiences with the Polish trade union NSZZ Solidarnošč.