In the period 6 – 7 September 2022, a delegation of seven people from TUFEMI visited the project’s partner organization Fagforbundet. The visit was planned as activity of the project “Decent work’s latest challenge: risk and stress management”,   funded by Innovation Norway.

During the exchange visit, both the structure and principles of work of  Fagforbundet and the key elements of the Norwegian model, that make it so successful and effective, were presented. The first day included a presentation of the police union, which is part of Unio, as well as the role of municipalities and employers in collective bargaining, presented by KS.

The second working day continued with a presentation of the activity and the main challenges faced by TUFEMI in the social dialogue and working conditions,  as well the program to fight and prevent cancer among firefighters in Norway. As part of the exchange visit, a fire station was also visited, where both the equipment of the fire trucks and the firefighters, were shown and working conditions were discussed.

The delegation from TUFEMI made several main conclusions as a result of the exchange visit, which are as follows:

• The extremely good trade union coverage in Norway is impressive, both in percentage, terms and in the different qualities and roles in which it is represented (public, private sector, education) and the very good profiling and differentiation of roles and activities between trade union organizations.

• The representation of employers was decided in an extremely interesting way in order to comply with the requirements for a tripartite dialogue. This is a practice that could be implemented in Bulgaria and the Ministry of the Interior, but it requires long-term work and concrete initiatives for sustainable change of the attitudes on the representatives of state administrations.

• It is impressive how the partnership between trade union organizations is developed and the most interesting is the existing mechanism “to build and upgrade on what has been already achieved by other social partners” which put the focus of negotiations on the  workers’ needs and improvement of  their social rights and benefits. The very fact that a lecturer from another trade union had a presentation during our study visit , due to the TUFEMI has stated interest in the organizing of the police in Norway, is proof of the existence of constructivism and partnership in the relations between trade union organizations in Norway.

• The main change in the way of thinking that must be brought about in Bulgaria is the realization by the representatives of the trade union organizations that the competition between them must be reduced to a “competition” for ideas in favor of the welfare of the workers, as well as the attitude that it is necessary all stakeholders to be open to other participants in order to find common solutions.

• Broad coverage and the availability of additional agreements, outside of the CLA, to guarantee rules in areas not affected by it is an exceptional way to protect the rights of all socio-economic groups.

• From an economic point of view, it is very interesting and valuable the principle of economic management ensuring the well-being of everyone, as well as the tactically correct action that negotiations on the  CLA  first are held on the remunerations in the most competitive sectors, as well as the principle that their results are decisive for the increase in wages in other sectors.

• The “Trust Reform” launched by the Government, aimed at reducing bureaucracy and “freeing up” time for professionals for their real work, is an initiative that we would certainly launch in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in Bulgaria as a whole.

• The program for the prevention of cancer among firefighters implemented by the Fagforbundet, as well as the statistics they have on the incidence and long-term follow-up of the employees’ condition is one of the initiatives that are very important and valuable for the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior and the least that can to do is to start conversations between interested parties on these topics.

The differences between the working conditions and the social dialogue in Bulgaria and Norway are huge and they are not so much caused by the different welfare of the countries, but because of the difference in the way of thinking and the attitude towards the employees, employers and the government officials. While in Bulgaria, the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are treated as a tool and are considered as easily replaceable contractors, in Norway, for the social partners, every single person is important and for them is a key element of the creation of the State of the  welfare.

The main causes of stress – both operational and, mainly, administrative – and their impact on Ministry of Interior employees are directly related to the state of the system.
Unfortunately, for the Ministry of Interior, the decade ends as it began – confirming the findings that it is a toxic, dehumanized system based on military orders, centralization, strict hierarchy, unquestioning discipline and the absence of understanding of the value of the individual.

The “toxicity” of the system is due to a “bouquet” of stressors. “The ‘ranking’ of stressors is headed by widespread injustice, devaluation of human life and health, authoritarian and unprofessional management, organizational disorder, financial deficit and material insecurity.

Largely unsurprisingly, critical and traumatic events in professional activity significantly outnumber stressors related to governance, relationships, organization and provision.

There are two levels of stress in the Ministry of the Interior among its employees – ordinary and extreme, caused respectively by sources of chronic (low pay, poor facilities, overwork, need to use personal resources to finance work expenses, lack of teamwork, low public image, etc.) and acute (death or suffering of a colleague, aggression and abuse of employees, fatal incidents with children and young people, disciplinary punishments and scandals at work, etc.) stress.

There is an absence of policies to prevent and deal with stress. As with most problems in the Ministry of Interior, stress is dealt with as each person sees  and, as a rule, alone. Preventive psychological help is missing.

All attempts to reform the department in the past decades (usually carried out “in fragments”, without a clear vision of the expected outcome, poorly planned) have ended disastrously.

The department is ‘mined’ by significant injustices, mainly in relation to employees, which makes it difficult to fulfil its main function – to be a guarantor of justice in public relations.
Injustice in the treatment of employees coexists with material scarcity, poor working conditions, irregular working hours, systematic overwork. For this reason, the institution is not prestigious, does not have the support of society and is not attractive as an employer.
The objectives of the Ministry of the Interior as an institution are axiomatic and, in this sense, clear – ensuring compliance with the law, preventing and counteracting crime, protecting the lives, rights and property of citizens and businesses. The objectives of the Ministry of the Interior as an organisation are fading and becoming blurred. It is not clear where it is starting from, where it is going and how the MIA contributes to the well-being of its employees as people belonging to an organisation. The goals for 2020 are the same as those of the previous three, but in other words

Another fact that does not need further proof, but inevitably has an impact on the level of occupational stress, is that the Ministry of the Interior is currently unable to offer the Bulgarian society a satisfactory degree of personal security and quality of administrative activity.

Public pressure on the MoI to democratise, reform and open up to citizens and communities is waning. Except in the 1990s, when it was part of the general impulse and need to reform institutions and legislation, the MoI has not been subjected to sustained, strong, systematic and uncompromising pressure to change. This happened episodically, initiated by individual leaderships or provoked by various projects, mainly between 2000 and 2010. In this way, the Ministry of Interior lags behind most institutions in Bulgaria.
The reform of the Ministry of Interior cannot be provoked from the outside because, as a system, the ministry is resistant to any challenges and is alien to interactions. Nor can change come as a result of an internal impulse because the institution “melts down” dissenters and discards transformational visionaries and leaders.

The problems in the Ministry of Interior which have to be solved a decent work to be guaranteed  can be structured in three areas, each of which causes professional stress, risks the lives and health of employees, and causes citizen dissatisfaction with service delivery:

1) Lack of long-term planning and vision for sustainable change in the Ministry of Interior in the context of the new security environment and decent work.

At the level of the state government, there is no long-term vision of how to change and in what direction the Ministry of Interior should develop. Technological developments are not taken into account, leading to changes in the future of security for which the MoI is not prepared. There is a reputational crisis which is not only not being managed, but no measures are being envisaged to tackle it. There are many successful models for reforming public order and internal security systems that are not being properly adapted to the Bulgarian context and are being introduced in a way that hinders rather than facilitates the functioning of the Ministry of the Interior.

2) Ineffective interaction and communication between the MoI and citizens

The general view is that there are some good practices, but the communication between citizens and the MoI and, as a consequence, the image of the institution are not at a good level. This is due to the unpreparedness of the MoI structures and civil society (both individual citizens and activists, as well as organized forms – associations, foundations, etc.) to work together in setting goals and developing strategies to achieve a higher quality of security service, which is the result of missing policies and vision for such interaction and cooperation. In parallel, there is a passive attitude of citizens towards various dimensions of their security and a lack of understanding in society of the need to build a shared security culture.
There is a lack of a comprehensive communication strategy of the MoI institution targeting society as a whole and various specific stakeholder groups. A consequence is the one-sided work of the Press and Public Relations Directorate, which mainly acts as the Ministry’s press centre and does not carry out the task of communicating the role, achievements and problems of the whole system.

3) The Ministry of the Interior is not effectively managed and does not provide adequate public services related to the provision of internal security and public order

Concrete problems are identified with the organisational model of the Ministry of Interior, which includes multiple structures with heterogeneous functions and the presence of multiple vertical structural units, which hinders the centralised management and decentralised provision of public services related to the provision of internal security (crime prevention) and public order;

The imbalance in career development and “legal uncertainty” is partially regulated, but not fully, under the legislated legal regimes of the three groups of employees in the Ministry of the Interior: civil servants under the Law on the Ministry of the Interior, civil servants under the Law on Civil Servants, and persons working under the Labour Code and the Law on the Ministry of the Interior;

The system of training employees for the needs of the Ministry of Interior needs to be improved and adapted to the modern challenges and changed security environment;

There is a lack of policies for the workers’ income as well lack of measures for decent work and working conditions.

There is a significant underprovision of uniforms and equipment for officers, as well as low pay compared to their counterparts from EU Member States. The insecurity demotivates a large number of Ministry of Interior employees, who periodically express their problems in this area through protests organised by the Ministry of Interior’s trade unions.

Challenges to the delivery of a quality security service are linked both to the territorial specificities of localities and to the demographic and socio-economic profile of the population. It is for this reason that it is necessary to change the overall approach to planning public order and internal security policy and its orientation towards the specific needs of Bulgarian citizens.

Is your work valued and appreciated in the Ministry of Interior? Do employees feel supported by their managers? What do they get for their work – rewards or punishments? Where do they find motivation to work in the Ministry of the Interior? The answers can be seen in this video, which is part of the information campaign “Stress and Risk in the Ministry of Interior”, which aims to “put attention” on the problems in the department and to start public discussion on their solution.

The campaign is implemented under the project “Decent work’s latest challenge: risk and stress management “, funded by Innovation Norway and implemented by TUFEMI in partnership with the Norwegian union Fagforbundet

How is the Ministry of Interior portrayed in the media? Why is the image of the ministry so negative and how does this affect those working in the ministry? When does the media spotlight turn to the Ministry of the Interior? The answers can be seen in this video, which is part of the information campaign “Stress and Risk in the Ministry of Interior”, which aims to “put attention” on the problems in the ministry and to start a public discussion on their solution.

The campaign is implemented under the project „Decent work’s latest challenge: risk and stress management „, funded by Innovation Norway and implemented by TUFEMI in partnership with the Norwegian union Fagforbundet

What are the reasons, methods and tools for coping with stress, according to MIA employees? What are the sources of job stress in the Ministry of Interior? What are the difficult moments and how do they cope with them? The answers can be seen in this video, which is part of the information campaign “Stress and Risk in the Ministry of Interior”, which aims to “put attention” on the problems in the Ministry and to start a public discussion on their solution. The campaign is being implemented under the project “Decent work’s latest challenge: risk and stress management”, funded by Innovation Norway and implemented by the JFWMW in partnership with the Norwegian trade union Fagforbundet.

The MoI continues to NOT only provide personal protective equipment, but also vital items of uniform and protective clothing to employees.
Some are not provided because they have “never been provided” and others because they are too expensive. No matter how expensive a piece of equipment or gear is, human life is much more precious.
Unfortunately, protecting the lives and health of Ministry of Interior employees is important only, and only, to the employees themselves.
A fact that once again shows how dehumanized, toxic and inefficient the Ministry of Interior is.

TUFEMI conducted a study of risk and stress factors in the MOI and an analysis of their change over the past 5 years. Parts of the shared positions and conclusions will be published in the form of infographics, which are part of the information campaign “Stress and Risk in the Ministry of Interior”. The campaign is implemented under the project “Decent work’s latest challenge: risk and stress management”, funded by Innovation Norway and implemented by TUFEMI in partnership with the Norwegian trade union Fagforbundet.

For years, the employees of the Ministry of Interior have been providing themselves with the necessary supplies, equipment, personal protective equipment, etc.
What is surprising in this case is that despite the expected third wave of COVID-19, the declared state of emergency and

the widely publicized disinfection rule, the MOI continues to NOT provide its employees with the necessary protective equipment. And those working in the system continue to buy supplies and disinfectants with personal funds.

TUFEMI conducted a study of risk and stress factors in the MOI and an analysis of their change over the past 5 years. Parts of the shared positions and conclusions will be published in the form of infographics, which are part of the information campaign “Stress and Risk in the Ministry of Interior”. The campaign is implemented under the project “Decent work’s latest challenge: risk and stress management”, funded by Innovation Norway and implemented by TUFEMI in partnership with the Norwegian trade union Fagforbundet.

There are many problems and stresses faced by employees in the Ministry of Interior, but one of the biggest is their “multifunctionality”.They self-identify as working in the Ministry of Interior, with some even acting as ‘heralds’ in March 2020. Who performs their official duties while they walk around with megaphones? The answer is: no one.

On 10 May 2020, the first focus group on the project will be held. It is planned 30 focus groups in the whole country to be organized.
The aim of the survey is to identify the factors causing occupational stress in the Ministry of Interior and the change identified by TUFEMIs members in the last 5 years.
Due to the declared state of emergency, caused by COVID-19 pandemic, the focus groups will be held online, and if canceled within a period that will not adversely affect the implementation of the activity, they will be held in person.

The schedule of online focus groups in May 2020 is:

One of the main activities of the project “Decent work’s latest challenge: risk and stress management” is the measurement of the risks at workplace. It is planned measurements to be organized in a police and firefighter station, fire station and border checkpoint in the capital (Sofia), in a big city (Varna) and a small town (Zlatograd).

The risk assessment includes measurement of the factors of the working environment (lighting, microclimate, circuit-phase protective conductor and others in case of need – eg noise), as well as assessment of the risk at the workplace.

The risk assessment will be performed according to the following schedule:

City of Varna:

Varna-East border checkpoint – 16 February  2020

01 RSPBZN – Varna and RDPBZN – Varna – 16 and 17 February 2020

03 RU of ODMVR – Varna – 17.02.2020

Town of Zlatograd:

GPU Zlatograd (Border Checkpoint Zlatograd) – 1 March 2020

RSPBZN-Zlatograd – 2 March  2020

RSPBZN-Zlatograd – 2 March  2020

Sofia city:

05 RU-SDVR – 04 March 2020

05 RSPBZN-Sofia – 05 March 2020

GPU Sofia (Border Checkpoint Airport) – 6 March  2020.