Brussels, 25/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - Portugal's State Secretary for Public Services Alexandre Rosa recently met in Lisbon a delegation of the CESI's Confederation of Public Sector Unions (USSP, member of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions) led by its Chairman Pierre Trausch, and which included the participation of Eurofedop (European Federation of Public Sector Employees) General Secretary Bert von Caelenberg.
Participants in this meeting discussed in detail the problem of informal sectoral-based social dialogue in the public sector. The Council Presidency insisted on the importance of cooperation between public administrations and participants examined the best means of setting into place and managing such informal social dialogue to ensure that it is useful, commented CESI Vice-President Rainer Dumont du Voitel. Subjects on which there could be consensus, highlighting the necessity for such dialogue, were enumerated, for example: a) mobility (it is essential to know how to manage the free movement of workers if this principle is to be applied to the public sector); b) employment in the public sector; c) human resources; d) new technologies. Rainer Dumont du Voitel welcomed this hige step forward in this area by the Portuguese Presidency. It will now be for the French Presidency of the EU to take up the issue so that various union organisations in the public sector (USSP, Eurofedop, EPSU -European Public Service Unions) can pursue their dialogue.