Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund

For an efficient cooperation within the network of information centres it is crucial that the counsellors and other stakeholders have the possibility for a transnational exchange. Therefore, one important activity of our project are expert traineeships. Counsellors and other stakeholders visit their counterparts or other institutions in the respective countries. On this joint work visits they exchange best practices with the host organizations, join the host counsellors in consultations, information events and visits to companies where posted workers are employed or to accommodations of posted workers. Also they visit government bodies or participate on workshops or conferences on posting together in order to help raise awareness on posting.

Delegation to Warsaw | October 2022
 

From 10 to 14 October 2022, the counsellors and the head of the Fair Mobility counselling network took part in a traineeship in Warsaw.

Workers from Poland are the largest group of workers seeking advice from Fair Mobility. They very often work in the home care, road transport, construction, seasonal agriculture and meat sectors. Many of them are posted workers.

The main aim of the traineeship was to network with different institutions in Poland that are relevant for counselling and to exchange knowledge about working conditions. For this reason, institutions such as the Insurance Fund (ZUS), the Labour Inspectorate (PIP), the National Health Fund (NFZ) and others were visited. All visits to institutions focused on the exchange of information about problems faced by workers in Poland and Germany, as well as the establishment of active cooperation. Contacts with the Polish trade unions OPZZ and Solidarność were also strengthened and deepened.

Traineeship Warsaw DGB

 Traineeship visit in Nuremberg and Munich| July 2022

DGB

DGB

DGB

As part of the project „Fair European Labour Mobility“, FELM, David Doppelbauer went to Nuremberg and Munich from 12.07.2022 to 15.07.2022 to carry out a traineeship. The aim of the trip and the traineeship was to visit the existing Fair Mobility counselling centres in these cities in order to gain a good insight into the counselling offered by Fair Mobility, to exchange ideas with the counsellors on how to make adviceseekers aware of the service and to gain experience, helpful tips and suggestions on how to set up a counselling centre and counselling network.

David Doppelbauer went first on the 13.07.2022. with Iulia Lavric, a consultant of Fair Mobility from Nuremberg to Landshut and supported the NGG (NGG managing director Lower Bavaria Kurt Haberl, NGG secretary Michael Schweiger) at an action at the poultry producer Wiesenhof in Bogen. On site they informed the workers about their rights, the status of the current collective agreement negotiations and the planned further procedure. They distributed more than 450 leaflefts in Romanian, German and English. During this action he noticed and became aware of how important it is for the counselling work to speak the mother tongue of the workers. He could not communicate with the majority of the workers of the poultry producer Wiesenhof, who only spoke Romanian, but only the Romanian-speaking counsellor Iulia Lavric. It was noticeable that speaking the mother tongue created a connection between the counsellor and the workers and subsequently led to familiarity, security and open communication.

In the afternoon/evening, after the successful action, he took part in a very exciting public panel discussion. Besides Mr. Stefan Körzell, member of the federal executive board of the DGB, representatives of different social organisations took part. The topic was how, in such difficult times as these, the rights of workers can be sufficiently strengthened and how there can be a socially just distribution.

The next day he brainstormed with the colleagues of the counselling centre of Fair Mobility in Nuremberg, with Iulia Lavric, Marius Hanganu and Oskar Brabanski about a concept of how to set up a counselling centre or counselling network and what to pay attention to. He benefited in particularly from Oskar's and Marius' experience, who had set up the counselling centre in Nuremberg together. A little later, there was an online question time with the lawyer from Faire Mobilität, which gave him a good insight into the legal questions that arise in the context of counselling.

On the last day of his traineeship David Doppelbauer visited Nadja Kluge, advisor and lawyer, at the Fair Mobility advice centre in Munich. They discussed the implementation of the Posting of Workers Directive in Germany and Austria and the (legal) problems that exist for posted and hired out workers and afterwards Nadja presented him various counselling cases and practical tips.  He attended on several live counselling sessions as well. There were three workers with different labour legal problems (dismissal, minimum wage, leave, transfer, fixed-term contracts, to name just a few) who was consulted by Nadia. During this personal counselling, he noticed again that speaking the mother tongue is crucial. After the three counselling appointments, they exchanged views on the topic of data protection.

In summary, his traineeship was a full success. The set goals were all achieved; they were even exceeded. Apart from a good insight into counselling work, numerous recommendations and tips on how to set up a counselling centre and counselling network, the exchange on how to draw the attention of adviseseekers to the services offered was very helpful and instructive for his future work. In addition there was also good networking with Fair Mobility staff, which he would like to build on.