Estonian National Agency

Estonian National Agency

ESTONIAN NATIONAL AGENCY

GRUNDTVIG PARTNER SEARCH

  • Preliminary project title

Increasing the capabilities and motivation of the employees' trustees.
  • Institution

Name / NGO Johannes Mihkelson Centre (JMC)
Type of institution / Non profit
City / Tartu, Estonia
Webpage /
The mission and main activities of the institution /

Centre’s aim is to balance Estonian society democratically through different trainings, seminars, and conferences; consulting NGOs and various publicity works.

The main fields we are involved are:
-Civic society trainings, trade unions trainings
-Job search trainings for unemployed people, trainings for handicapped people
-Youth trainings, youth non-formal education
-Introducing and promoting European Union policies in Estonia
-Introducing and promoting Estonian culture and societal life, including human rights to non-Estonian citizens living in Estonia
There are five project managers working in the centre, each of them has one specific field.
The connection between the activities and
adult education / All our current activities are
-Job search trainings for unemployed and long-term unemployed people all over Estonia
-Trade union trainings for trustees and active members
-Training for mentors for refugees and asylum seekers all over Estonia
-Training for mentors for people with addiction problems
  • Grundtvig action

Learning partnership / x
Multilateral project/network
  • Seeking for

Coordinator

Partner

/ x
  • Summary of the project

Objectives / In order to achieve the objectives - better working conditions, stronger social guarantees for the workers and a more flexible labor market, especially from the adapting into the labor market viewpoint- more efficiently, the trade unions, which mainly rely on membership fees, need to cooperate with other trade union in different countries, to exchange experiences and knowledge, especially in schooling field. And as the trustees who are the representatives of the employees at the employers, play a vital role in trade union activities, the current project focuses on increasing the capabilities and motivation of the employees' trustees’ trough changing experiences and knowledge of learning and teaching with trade unions of other countries.
Activities /
  1. Intensifying and supporting communication between different trade unions and other institutions, in order to improve the capability of trade unions to participate in social dialogue in a more effective way
  2. Encouraging trade unions, as organization, which stands for the rights of labor,in strengthening and shaping the reputation of the organization.
  3. Promoting and supporting voluntary activity through educating the employees’ trustees and including them to the activities of the trade unions.
  4. Ensuring the development of the trade union movement, social dialogue and partnership through professional and continuous schooling.
  5. Increase in internal democracy in enterprises and better representation of the employees in managing the enterprises.
  6. Promoting civic society and participation democracy through raising the citizens’ activity.
Concrete purposes:
  1. Enthuse the employees to more actively act as volunteers in involving them to the activities of trade union.
  2. Help to form the reputation of trade union as a civil society organization, which stands for the rights of the employees.
  3. Create a schooling curriculum and –methods for the trade unions trustees as active members of the civic society.
  4. Contribute to the increase in the society’s knowledge of the rights and obligations of an employee.
  5. Raising the competency and activity of the trade unions trustees as representatives of the employees through the new curriculum.

Outcomes / The continuous and skillful action of trade unions trustees increases the trade unions membership, their institutional capabilities, sustainability and their relative importance as social partners in designing the labor market policies and as shaper of the civic society helps to participate in the processes of the society. Through new trustees and trade unions members a greater amount of people get involved in the forming of the processes of the civic society, i.e. nation-wide discussion of the subsistence wages or legislation. This in its turn enables the simple employee, who does not have any relation to the making of political decisions and legislation, to understand the principles of the society’s functioning and ways to stand up for his rights. Together the employees have a possibility through trade unions to be involved in forming their society. This makes the trade unions position as a social partner stronger and they have to be taken as an influential pressure group in the society. The aim of trade unions is to fight solidarily for the better working conditions for all workers. All this strongly contributes to the development of participation democracy and civic society in Estonia.
Exchanging the knowledge of schooling practices and its implementation in other countries by the trustees as adult learners can also be considered as an important outcome. Such exchange of knowledge and practices advances the learning possibilities for adults. Studying strongly influences the effectiveness of each trustee and it has an effect to his/her self-learning-ability to stand up for him/herself and others. At present, a trustee often suffers under persecution by the employer and the trade unions have no means to support him/her in such situation. An active, self-confident, encouraged and schooled trustee is a cornerstone for the functioning of trade union and a precondition for the functioning of an active civic society.
Target groups / Trade unions trustees and other active members
Main covered fields / Adult education and elaboration of democracy in civil society
  • Potential partners

All countries, which are joined with Grundtvig program.
  • Working language

English / x
German
Other (namely)
  • Contact person

Name
/ Jana Morozov
Position / Project manager
Telephone / +372 53 49 1171
Fax / +372 7 441 930
E-mail /
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