Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

In the early 1990s, the JCF became involved with training programmes in CEE.

PHARE & TACIS

The European Commission's (EC) Poland and Hungary Aid for the Regeneration of the Economies (PHARE) and its Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) were the leading funding agencies.

• PHARE: An EC fund to assist countries of central and eastern Europe in their preparations for joining the European. Union. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement/briefings/33a1_en.htm

PHARE had two central elements, the Partnership Building Programme, and the Democracy Programme. Both agencies supported the JCF's central and eastern European work.

• TACIS: To help and advise member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, in their transition to democratic market-oriented economies.

The JCF became registered training agents for both PHARE and TACIS in November 1992; training began the following year, when the JCF was invited to evaluate the training needs of the newly formed Romanian trade union federation of Blocul National Sindical (BNS). The programme was funded by PHARE; it was the Foundation's introduction to CEE.

Andy Wood met with the President, Dumitru Costin and other leaders in Bucharest.

https://www.bns.ro

In November of that year, Wood addressed the inaugural annual conference of BNS in Transylvania. The organisation's needs were evaluated, and a programme of training under the broad subject of the Role of Trade unions in a Democratic Society was agreed. That training commenced the following May.

In 1994, a delegation from BNS visited the UK to participate in a two-week exercise designed to familiarise the participants with the various conciliation, mediation, and arbitration processes. The course was linked to an introduction to industrial law and was held in London at the Bayswater Inn.

European horizons were further extended when the JCF hosted a one-week training course for representatives of Poland’s Solidarnosc on negotiating techniques.

December 1993 saw another first for the JCF. In cooperation with the East Midlands Engineering Employers Federation (EMEEF) and Solidarnosc, a seven-day programme on training and negotiating techniques was held for managers and trade union representatives. It was held at the training centre of the EMEEF and funded by PHARE.

In 1994, research and education staff conducted a three-day course in Slovenia in relation to Management Buyouts and Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOPS).

During 1995/96, a series of programmes took place in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria on contemporary teaching methods and techniques.

The JCF hosted a young trade union academic from Montenegro in 1995, Dragan Djuric. He spent several months researching British industrial relations at Teesside University.

It was also intended to be an exercise enabling him to improve his English language. Dragan became most knowledgeable and helpful contributor to the work of the JCF

http://www.policy.hu/djuric/About_me.html

On this link reference is made to: “Djuric, Dragan, 1996, Montenegro - An unknown country, Jim Conway Foundation Bulletin, Vol.17, No.8”.

A 13-week PHARE funded Romanian training course on negotiating techniques for representatives of BNS and the Employers’ Confederation of Romanian Industry (CONPIROM) was approved in 1994 and commenced in March 1995.

Calvin Allen, head of research, worked on a job evaluation programme for Santierul Naval Constanta in Romania, one of Europe's most significant ship repair and conversion yards. It specialises in medium range bulk carriers and chemical tankers. A 21-page report was presented to DGV in 1995.

By 1996, the JCF was working in several CEE countries. The principal involvement was in Poland & Romania; it also operated in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Belarus. These activities were funded by several EC agencies.

The JCF was commissioned under the PHARE/TACIS Programme to organise a four-day training curriculum for the Romanian organisation Federatia Sindicateloe Libere Arta, Cultura Audiovizual (ACAV), which had also been inaugurated during the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime.

The course was for 26 middle-level activists of the ACAV, and took place in 1996 in Bucharest.

The emphasis was for the JCF to cooperate with ACAV in organising a bespoke training package to assist ACAV in adjusting to its role in a plural democracy.

The agreement had a prerequisite for providing two experts to address eight specific aspects of trade unions in an egalitarian society.

ACAV was inaugurated in 1989 during the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime. Its founding Members had played a significant role in the events which led to the removal of Ceausescu.

The following April, the publication of a JCF Polish Bulletin was considered after producing two pilot issues. It was agreed that DGX would be prepared to fund a more permanent publication, a bi-monthly issue for a minimum of twelve months.

A two-week ‘Skills for Negotiation’ course for representatives of Poland's leading trade union collective, Solidarność, The Confederation of Polish Employers and Polish governmental bodies, took place in the UK in 1995. It was noticeable that the governmental representatives did not wish to cooperate and made their point. The 'old guard' was still around.

A 13-week training course on negotiating techniques for both representatives of the Romanian trade union federation BNS and a Romanian employers' counterpart was approved by PHARE and took place from March 1997

It had become common during the 1980s & 1990s for partnering organisations to be involved in joint projects. The FES & HBS were the main partners for the JCF. Some assignments had Italian, Dutch or French partners, often a tripartite arrangement with one of the German organisations.

There was always a 'Lead Partner' for such projects, with overall responsibility. The JCF was the lead partner in two projects, one in Lithuania on the principles of a pluralist democracy. The other was in Slovenia and based on the ethics of a market economy. The European funding for these undertakings is vague; the Director's report for 1996 states that it was from "Budget line 4-7007".

Multi and cross-national involvement in training became common as the decade progressed. In 1996, a survey was conducted in five CEE countries where the JCF was present. It examined the current and projected level of social policy in each country. The findings were compared with the criteria for European Union membership concerning social policy.

The resultant report was presented to the European Social Fund (DGV), the funding agency in November 1997.

Some of the teaching and lecturing was contracted out using trade union professionals and university academics, particularly from Durham University, Templeton College Oxford, and London Business School.