Today, in Podgorica, the Trade Union of Civil Servants and State Employees of Montenegro (SDSNCG), with the support of the Solidarity Center, organized a panel discussion on the topic “Strengthening the participation of unions in the work of public administration in order to narrow the framework for corrupt and illicit influences”.
The goal of the panel discussion was for union members to consider the legislative framework regarding the right to information, consultation and participation of employees in the decision-making process, and to share experiences from practice when it comes to these rights and the (im)possibility of exercising them in the union-employer relationship in the public sector, as well as to consider the possibilities of greater participation of trade unions in activities related to detection, reporting and recognition of corruption, i.e. activities that would contribute to narrowing the framework for corrupt and illicit influences in the public sector.
The panel discussion resulted in the following conclusions:
- it is necessary to conduct a survey in order to document that employees are not familiar with the integrity plans and risk registers of their organizational units;
- familiarize with the current integrity plans and risk registers, analyze them and, with external lecturers/training, learn how to improve and use them in the best way;
- form a map of procedures and institutes in the work of public administration, in which trade unions should be included in accordance with the Labor Law (concerning the professional and economic position of employees) and devise measures and indicators for evaluation in integrity plans and risk registers, in order to enable the participation of trade unions in work of public administration;
- to submit requests for the appointment of union representatives to the work of commissions for the development and monitoring of integrity plans and risk registers, as well as initiatives for changes and additions to them (recognition of risks, proposing measures, defining evaluation indicators…).
This panel discussion is the first in a series of activities that will be implemented within the Solidarity Center grant entitled “Improving knowledge and resources in Europe to support trade unions in the fight against corruption in the region”. Project activities will be focused on the analysis of the possibility of trade unions to, within the administration, influence the reduction of corruption and illicit influences, as well as existing legal norms with anti-corruption potential, which until now have not been the subject of trade unions’ work and interest, even though they regulate the professional and/or economic status of employees. and whose application in practice is mostly of a formal nature.
