Reorganisation in Social Affairs Ministry aimed at greater efficiency

Further to the merger of the ministries in charge of social affairs, equal opportunities and employment policy, which took place in mid 2006, a new wave of reorganisation is underway in different service units affiliated to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour. Among other units, the Public Employment Service, the Labour Inspectorate, the Sectoral Social Dialogue Centre, and the Mediation and Arbitration Service are currently undergoing major organisational changes.

Background

In mid 2006, the incoming socialist-liberal government embarked on a reform of the state administration. Aimed at ensuring greater efficiency, the measures envisaged reducing the number of ministries from 17 down to 12 departments. In addition, the measures involved the closure of several hundred government agencies and institutions (HU0607059I). The reform programme also affected the ministries in charge of social affairs, equal opportunities and employment policy, which were merged into a single ministry, namely the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (Szociális és Munkaügyi Minisztérium, SZMM), directly after the government came into power. As a result of the mergers at ministerial level, the Minister for Social Affairs and Labour, Péter Kiss, issued a decree in October 2006, which regrouped and streamlined different service units affiliated to the former ministries.

New structure

The 2006 ministerial decree merged some 30 former units into the following four new units, which became operational as of 1 January 2007:

• the Employment and Social Affairs Office (Foglalkoztatási és Szociális Hivatal, FSZH), based in the former head office of the Public Employment Service (Állami Foglalkoztatási Szolgálat, ÁFSZ), absorbed all offices exercising a state authority function in the field of social affairs, employment and labour;

• the Institute of Social Policy and Labour (Szociálpolitikai és Munkaügyi Intézet) drew together all of the former research units and methodological support centres for services;

• the National Vocational Training and Adult Education Institute (Nemzeti Szakképzési és Felnőttképzési Intézet) resulted from the merger of three former independent institutes and two other units, all within the educational provision field;

• a unified institution was formed for managing the bidding for all tenders in the field of social and employment policy, especially those invited by the European Social Fund.

In addition to splitting up, merging and internally regrouping the different units, the territorial offices of the ÁFSZ underwent regional reorganisation. As of 1 January 2007, the traditional county system was dissolved and new centres were established in the seven regions of the country. A similar reorganisation was carried out in the offices of the Hungarian Labour Inspectorate (Országos Munkabiztonsági és Munkaügyi Felügyelet, OMMF).

There was a major reduction in staff numbers due to the reorganisation process. The remaining staff, who were employed in the new units, often faced a change of employment status. This situation was due to the fact that, within the Hungarian public sector, units may have a different legal status given that three different laws regulate employment relationships, the Labour Code, the Act on Civil Servants and the Act on Public Service Employees.

Social partners’ view

From an industrial relations’ perspective, it is significant that the recently established Sectoral Social Dialogue Centre (Ágazati Párbeszéd Központ, ÁPK) and the Labour Mediation and Arbitration Service (Munkaügyi Közvetítő és Döntőbírói Szolgálat, MKDSZ) became integrated into the FSZH. As the social partners have traditionally had a say in the operation of these institutions, the reorganisation plan was placed on the agenda of the plenary session of the National Interest Reconciliation Council (Országos Érdekegyeztető Tanács, OÉT). At the December 2006 meeting, the social partners expressed their overall approval of the government measures; however, they demanded greater influence on personnel decisions at ÁPK. At a second meeting, in January 2007, OÉT amended the by-law of the MKDSZ, allowing its integration into the FSZH, albeit with a somewhat smaller administrative staff.

László Neumann, Institute of Political Science, Hungarian Academy of Sciences