On 10 September and on 6 October 2015, another two in a series of working visits made by the Association of Employers of Slovenia took place in Belgrade and in Skopje within the framework of the »Tourism is people« project.
The discussion was again primarily focused on the situation of social dialogue in Serbia in general and more specifically in the tourism and hospitality sector.
The general impression that could be gained from the discussion with the representatives of trade unions and employers was that there was a lack of tripartite social dialogue in Serbia with the main culprit for it being their government. When adopting the legislation from a field within the competence of trade unions and employers, the government seeks neither their consent nor their opinion and uses a rapid procedure to adopt all those laws it considers to be the most appropriate in terms of content. The economic and social council has been formally set up but does not work in practice.
As far as the bipartite social dialogue is concerned the situation is somewhat different. The trade unions and employers have an interest in reaching an agreement, concluding collective agreements at sectoral level and taking joint actions aimed against arbitrary conduct of their government. Even though the government set out in June 2014 through the amendments to the law governing the employment relationships that as of 1 January 2015 the validity of all sectoral collective agreements would expire, the trade unions and employers have already concluded several new ones. In sectors, such as tourism and hospitality, where this has not been done, the negotiations are soon to be started. The trade unions have announced that this is what they will suggest to the employers as early as next month.
The issues emerging in the tourism and hospitality sector are also linked to the lack of practical experience of pupils and students when they finish their education. Serbia does not have the dual education system. Rather, it depends on the willingness of employers to enable the pupils and students to gain practical experience. They also pointed out the inadequacy of the school system and a lack of schools in some places or regions. In places where tourism is highly developed, no adequate schools are available, which leads to high mobility of workers.
As almost everywhere else in the world, examples of undeclared work can also be detected in Serbia. The difference between the Slovenian and Serbian systems is that in addition to the labour inspection undeclared work is tackled also by a special tourism inspection. Its reports show that in the period between January 2011 and December 2014, as many as 3 214 cases of undeclared work were identified. This year, tourism inspectors have detected 804 cases of undeclared work representing almost 6% of all inspections carried out in companies operating in tourism and hospitality industry.
The problems identified in Serbia by the Association of Employers of Slovenia are rather complex. The “Tourism is people” project will give good orientations to the Serbian social partners to be able find a comprehensive solution in the tourism and hospitality sector.
On 6 October 2015, a meeting was held in Skopje within the framework of the Tourism is People project between the Macedonian project partners and mag. Maja Skorupan, Project Manager. The discussion focused on social dialogue issues in the tourism and hospitality sector in Macedonia. Moreover, the project partners reviewed and updated the completed questionnaire prepared as part of the project activities, providing a basis for the production of a project brochure.
With financial support by the European union.