Conciliator: Minister dismantling system which has functioned well for 25 years
A bill initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to transfer the tasks of national conciliator to the Chancellor of Justice is unfortunate and will fail, as it dismantles the system of effective conciliation of collective labor disputes which has functioned for a quarter of a century, Meelis Virkebau, the incumbent national conciliator, has said.
The national conciliator (Riiklik lepitaja) as its name suggests brings together the sides in a labor dispute, while the justice chancellor's role is to uphold and oversee the Constitution of Estonia, and to protect individual human rights from a legal perspective.
ERR wrote on Monday (link in Estonian) that Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry Erkki Keldo (Reform) had sent a bill transferring the functions of the national conciliator to the chancellor of justice for her approval and opinion.
Virkebau finds that the bill will deprive employers' associations and trade unions alike of their right to agree on a candidate for the national conciliator and, second, will abolish the requirement for the national conciliator to have a mandate from the legislature.
All this serves to annul confidence in the conciliation procedure, the conciliator's office stated in the communique to the justice chancellor.
It demonstrates that the bill's author does not know or understand that the nature of a collective labor dispute represents a bargaining friction of interests, but not a legal dispute, a letter, sent Wednesday, added.
"The message of this bill to employers and employees is clear and unequivocal – your opinion is of no interest to the state, and politicians and officials will decide for themselves what is in your interest," Virkebau went on.
"Really, employers and trade unions do not argue about legal issues during the conciliation procedure, but instead hammer out differences in working conditions, in particular pay, working time and holidays."
According to the office of the national conciliator, the bill is manifestly unconstitutional as well, not to mention in breach of international labor laws.
"It is sad to see that the Ministry of Economic Affairs considers the Chancellor of Justice's offices to be, figuratively speaking, an omnivore, which it can add arbitrary duties to its constitutional tasks, in the name of cutting costs; costs which have nothing to do with the Chancellor of Justice's activities," Virkebau continued.
"It might just as well be the Olympic committee, for instance, which certainly has practical experience in reconciling conflicts of interest, even when they do not relate to labor relations."
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Editor: Urmet Kook, Andrew Whyte
