On March 18-19, in Hamburg, Germany, the Annual Meeting of the Baltic Sea Labour Forum (BSLF) took place. Employer organizations together with trade unions from the countries around the Baltic Sea, as well as representatives from the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC), ministries and other stakeholders joined forces with the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) to discuss the most topical issues on sustainable working life in the Region.
One of the highlights of the meeting was the European Social Fund supported project – Sustainable Working Life – that is being newly launched for the benefit of all Baltic Sea countries and managed by the CBSS.
With this project, the Baltic Sea Labour Forum countries, together with the Max Planck Institute, aim to take specific and constructive steps towards improving conditions in the Baltic Sea Region to enable older persons to reap the benefits of, and contribute towards social and economic viability in the region through greater participation in the work force and through entrepreneurship.
Some of the reports presented at the round table included:
- CBSS/BSLF about current developments in the field of Labour and Employment by Daria Akhutina
- Latvian presidency of the Baltic Sea Trade Union Network (BASTUN) by Irena Liepina of the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia
- Report from the Polish Confederation Lewiatan by Sonia Buchholtz
- Report by Christiane Miβlbeck-Winberg of the Confederation of Danish Employers
- Report by the Employers’ Confederation of Latvia by Janis Pumpins
- The Nordic Council of Ministers’ Co-operation Programme on Working Life 2018-2021 by Jens Oldgard
- An address by the Secretary General of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, Bodo Bahr.
- School to Work Knowledge Platform Integrate NEETs by Anastasia Klonova of Norden Association in Sweden
- ESF 54+ Initiative by Viktorija Krutulyte of European Social Fund Lithuania
- Outcomes from the Interreg “Best Agers” and “Best Agers Lighthouses”
- A presentation on EUSBSR by Sabine Hahn, Anders Bergström and Nino Simic
Johannes Schraps, Member of the German Bundestag, Päivi Hämäläinen of the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Work and Gender Equality and Olga Korchemkina of the Russian Ministry for Labour and Employment also contributed.
For more information, contact Daria Akhutina, Senior Policy Advisor at the Council of the Baltic Sea States: daria.akhutina@cbss.org.