Darbo aplinka ir socialinis dialogas europos sąjungos naujojoje valstybėje Lietuvoje

LTRemiantis naujausių Lietuvoje atliktų apklausų duomenimis teigiama, kad tokiose pokomunistinėse šalyse, kaip Lietuva, esama ypatingo palikimo, t. y. rimtų sveikatos ir saugos problemų. Vertinant pagal daugelį bendrų sveikatos būklės, taip pat darbų saugos, po įstojimo į Europos Sąjungą Lietuvos rezultatai yra prasti, o kai kurie pagrindiniai rodikliai – prasčiausi Europos Sąjungoje. Nors Lietuva ir turi išsamų, Europos Sąjungos reikalavimus atitinkantį darbuotojų saugos ir sveikatos įstatymą, apklausų duomenys rodo darbo režimo intensyvėjimą ir tai, kad darbo aplinka nėra tokia kolektyvi, kad darbuotojai galėtų pareikšti savo „balsą“ sveikatos ir saugos valdymo procese. Europietiškos teisinės reformos darbuotojų sveikatai ir saugai turi tik nedidelį apčiuopiamą poveikį, o Europos Sąjungos valstybėms pasiūlyta „2007–2012 m. Bendrijos darbuotojų sveikatos ir saugos strategija: gerinti darbo kokybę ir našumą“ į prastėjančią darbo aplinką tokiose pokomunistinėse šalyse, kaip Lietuva, net neatsižvelgia. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Darbo aplinka; Naujosios valstybės; Sveikata; Sauga; Strategija; Working environment; New member states; Health; Safety; Strategy.

ENThe accession of ten new Member States to the European Union (EU) in May 2004 added 74.1 million people to the existing EU population of 382.3 million in the group of fifteen existing Member States (EU15). The majority of the new arrivals (eight) were post-communist states (namely, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Czech, Slovakia and Slovenia). The accession in January 2007 of Bulgaria and Romania added a further nearly 30 million. In sum, the ten post-communist countries which joined the EU between 2004 and 2007 now account for over 104 million out of the total of 486 million in the enlarged European Union (EU27). This article attempts to examine the degree to which the evolving EU strategy on workplace occupational health and safety (OHS) takes account of the reconfiguration of the European landscape through eastwards enlargement to include the countries of the former socialist world. We examine a "worst case" empirical example of one new EU Member State – Lithuania. Here, a seemingly robust domestic legislative framework is reviewed against a background of evidence of a deteriorated working environment, with ineffective implementation created by lack of employee "voice" in the workplace health and safety management. The adoption of increasingly business-friendly assumptions in formulating OHS policy at the European Commission level is judged inappropriate in the light of these problems. Specifically, the shift towards a preoccupation with issues of economic growth and productivity in the European Community’s new five-year OHS strategy, i.e. "Improving Quality and Productivity at Work: Community Strategy 2007-2012 on Health and Safety at Work", leaves the future of workplace safety in the new Member States in a paradoxical position.The authors of this article suggest that the subordination of European Community strategy for health and safety for 2007 to 2012 to goals of labour productivity and economic competitiveness has led to a failure to analyze the specific ongoing problems that the post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe pose to the achievement of an equitable and safe working environment for employees in the enlarged EU. In particular, evidence from the "Baltic Working Environment and Labour Survey" points to deteriorated working environments and important defects in the processes of social dialogue, especially on health and safety matters, despite alignment with EU norms through extensive legislative provisions. In marked contrast to previous European Community strategy for health and safety for 2002 to 2006, such problems are simply ignored in the new EU strategy on OHS for 2007 to 2012. The new OHS strategy marks a significant retreat from any commitment to the preservation of a "social dimension" in the European project, which would balance economic development with social justice considerations across the Members States, previously one of the few areas of European policy-making, which have seen significant gains for workers’ rights. The new strategy marks the one-sided subordination of European Community policy for health and safety at work to the goals of labour productivity and economic competitiveness. Its chances of success, even in terms of its own stated targets are uncertain, nowhere more so than in the East European new Member States. [From the publication]