On April 24, 2023 upon the initiative of the Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes, a meeting was held with representatives of organizations dealing in mediation in the Republic of Serbia. The goal of this meeting was to get to know each other better and share experiences, establish a dialogue on good practices and barriers encountered by both the Agency and the aforementioned organizations.

In addition to representatives of the Agency, the meeting was attended by representatives of UG Mediators of Kruševac, the Institute for Mediation, Negotiation and Public Policy, as well as the Chamber of Mediators of Serbia.

Many topics were raised at the meeting, which primarily relate to the recognition of the importance of alternative resolution of labor disputes and the advantages that this concept brings about. Further directions of cooperation and intensification of relations through mutual participation in trainings and forums were agreed upon. The conclusion is that there is plenty of room for joint action in the coming period and that this is only the first in a series of workshops of this type.

The employees and the management of JPKP "Lazarevac" addressed the Republic Agency for Peaceful Resolution of Labor Disputes with a joint proposal for the peaceful resolution of labor disputes, regarding the payment of the minimum wage. With this joint decision, the employees and the management acted in accordance with the recommendation of the Government of the Republic of Serbia that beneficiaries of public funds resolve labor disputes peacefully in order to reduce the proceedings costs.

So far, 460 individual proceedings have been initiated before the Agency, with a joint Proposal for the initiation of proceedings, out of which 250 have already been concluded. Representatives of employees and employers have also reported that this number is not final and that new Proposals are expected in the oncoming period.

This is yet another example of good practice to resolve individual labor disputes amicably rather than through court proceedings. In this way, unnecessary court and other costs will be avoided for both the employees and the employer, and the employees will reach arbitration decisions within 30 days, which have the same legal force as the final court verdicts.

The Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes held the first interactive training for conciliators and arbitrators in 2023. The training took place on April 7, 2023 in the "Serbia" Palace before the audience of a large number of conciliators and arbitrators.

Representatives of the International Labor Organization from Geneva, Kristina Miheš, who is the Head of the Department for Labor Law and Reforms, and Valeri Van Goethem, a specialist in labor law, as well as Dr. Jovan Protic, representative of the International Labor Organization in Serbia, were the special guests at the opening of the training. They introduced the participants to the activities of the ILO in the field of peaceful resolution of labor disputes and the new methodology of the ILO for providing technical assistance in the prevention and settlement of labor disputes.

All attending conciliators and arbitrators were introduced to the current judicial practice in the field of labor disputes by the judge of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, Lidija Đukić, and the judge of the Appellate Court in Novi Sad, Vesna Dušić.

The second part of the training in the afternoon, led by Olga Vučković Kićanović, was dedicated to acquiring specialized knowledge for resolving disputes related to abuse at work.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has begun the development of a methodology for providing technical assistance in the prevention and resolution of labor disputes in order to improve access to labor justice for its members. On April 5 and 6, 2023, a workshop for the application of the new self-assessment methodology was held in Belgrade.

The workshop was ran by Kristina Miheš, Head of the Department for Labor Law and Reforms, and Valerie Van Goethem, Labor Law Specialist of the International Labor Organization. The workshop was attended by representatives of the Union of Employers of Serbia, representative trade unions - the Union of Independent Trade Unions and UGS "Nezavisnost" (United Branch Trade Unions), conciliators and arbitrators, external experts and most of the Agency employees.

One of the main goals of the workshop was to use the ILO-developed diagnostic tool for self-assessment of non-judicial institutions for the prevention and resolution of disputes. This diagnostic tool is expected to help the state and social partners in assessing and understanding the current situation, identify potential opportunities and challenges, as well as devise measures to solve them with joint efforts. Also, this diagnostic tool will help the ILO to more effectively adjust and direct its technical assistance in accordance with the needs identified by the national tripartite constituents.

The three-day annual regional conference of the Network of Agencies for the Peaceful Resolution of Labor Disputes was held in Budva, Montenegro, from March 28 to 30, 2023. The conference was attended by directors of agencies and other bodies for the peaceful settlement of labor disputes and conciliators and arbitrators from Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, the Republic of North Macedonia, Albania, Republic of Srpska (BiH), Greece, Spain, Hungary and the Republic of Serbia.

More than 30 participants from the countries of the Western Balkans gathered at the regional conference with a focus on the topic of improving institutions for the peaceful resolution of labor disputes through a comparison of achieved performances and systems applied in conducting of the procedures.

Dr. Ivica Lazović, the Director of the Republic Agency for the Peaceful Resolution of Labor Disputes of the Republic of Serbia, was one of the opening panelists who spoke about the ASLD application that was developed through the ESAP 2 project in order to collect key information on indicators important for the observation and understanding of the concept of peaceful resolution of labor disputes in the area of Western Balkans. He pointed out that, from the Agency's point of view, the value of this application was reflected in the ability to use it to see our position in relation to other institutions from in the neighborhood that deal with the peaceful resolution of labor disputes, to compare the values of the indicators and to take possible corrective measures through further cooperation and consultative actions in the work processes.

On the second day of the conference, the participants were introduced to the practice of peaceful settlement of labor disputes in Greece by Prof. Dr. Kostas Papadimitriou from the Faculty of Law in Athens and OMED President from the Hellenic Organization for Mediation and Arbitration. Also, Diego Ribera from Spain talked about the experience of the Spanish Foundation for Inter-Confederation Mediation and Arbitration.

The entire event was organized as part of the Employment and Social Affairs Platform 2 ESAP 2 project, which is a regional project funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Regional Cooperation Council. Through the ESAP 2 project, the International Labor Organization team, among other things, provides support to the countries of the Western Balkans in the improvement and development of the concept for the peaceful resolution of labor disputes.

With the mediation of the Republic Agency for the Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes, a joint Recommendation on the peaceful settlement of a collective labor dispute regarding the implementation of the collective agreement for employees of the Preschool "Lane" from Doljevac was signed.

The dispute was initiated by the trade union GSPRS "Nezavisnost" of the PU "Lane" from Doljevac, and the Municipality of Doljevac, as the founder, agreed to resolve the dispute peacefully before the Agency.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marija Dragićević was appointed as the acting mediator. Following provisions of the law, she set up the Conciliation Committee at the first hearing including representatives of all parties to the dispute. After three hearings, positions of the representatives of the parties to the dispute on how to resolve the disputed issues were agreed upon. The members of the Conciliation Committee agreed on the final text of the Recommendation, and in accordance with the law, adopted it by a unanimous vote.

In this way, in the Doljevac PU "Lane", representatives of the founders and trade unions gave yet another example of how to successfully conduct social dialogue, deciding to pursue the procedure for the peaceful settlement of a collective labor dispute in accordance with the recommendation of the Government of the Republic of Serbia that labor disputes should be resolved through institutional mechanisms.