Publications

Documentary - One day of a judge’s life

According to a recent analysis, the excessive workload of judges is affecting indirectly not only the independence and integrity of judges, but also the quality of justice. Overburdening of judges beyond their physical capacity generates a permanent exhaustion, and consequently has a negative impact on the quality of justice. See the   documentary here.

Documentary - Dead souls

Informal employment of day labourers in agriculture encouraged by Law no. 22 of 23/02/2018 on the exercise of unskilled activities of occasional nature carried out by day labourers (“Law of day labourers”) continues to create a series of negative social and economic consequences. The problematic aspects of the given law relate to tax evasion, exclusion of day laborers from the tax space by transposing all tax obligations on them and, at the same time, absolving employers of almost all tax obligations related to the employment of day labourers. As a result, the vast majority of day labourers cannot benefit from state medical or social insurance. Moreover, they are deprived of any social security and safety guarantees at work, given the limited powers of the State Labour Inspectorate (ISM) to carry out unannounced checks and impose fines. See the   documentary here.

How much does a person's life cost?

In November 2020, the Parliament voted for the return to the State Labor Inspectorate (ISM) of the control responsibilities in the field of occupational safety and health. Since its launch in 2016 and until now, the effects of the ‘reform’ have been measured in human lives, impacting negatively also the State Labor Inspectorate, which, in the meantime, has lost much of its institutional capacity, lots of experienced staff having left the system. Read more in the journalistic investigation

Documentary - How much does a person's life cost?

A reform started in 2016 by the Filip Government has destroyed the Labor Inspectorate, leaving dozens of labour accidents uninvestigated in the last two years. In November 2020, the Parliament returned some of the powers to the Labor Inspectorate, but the restoration of the network of labor inspectors will be difficult, will take time and it is not known when it will be fully operational. The costs of reform are already being measured in human lives. Watch the documentary conducted by Friedrich-Ebert-Shtiftung (FES) in partnership with the Center for Journalistic Investigations.

Doctors in the front line: Who defends their rights?

The health workers were among the first to be hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Overworked due to the large volume of work, always having to work for two, three or more colleagues who either had become ill or left the system permanently, always exposed to contamination due to insecurity at work, the doctors, nurses and hospital technical staff are resolutely dealing with the coronavirus pandemic despite the fact that the system has not always defended their rights.

Read more in the journalistic investigation

Documentary - Doctors in Pandemic: Who defends their rights?

As the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to grow in the Republic of Moldova, the cases of violation of the healthcare employees’ rights have intensified. Almost every third healthcare employee has been infected with Covid-19. Ten months after the pandemic, more than 13,800 healthcare workers have contracted the virus. These alarming figures reveal the vulnerabilities of the Moldovan healthcare system in the face of the pandemic.

What sacrifices doctors have to make to secure their jobs and why some of them prefer to remain silent rather than talk about the problems of the system, find out in the documentary.

University reform: between necessity and risk

Every year, fewer and fewer young people choose to study at Moldovan universities. While in 2009, there were studying 10 thousand students in Moldovan universities, over the last ten years their number has halved, accounting for 52 thousand in 2019. Higher education in Moldova is becoming unattractive, say those who chose to study at universities abroad. The modest quality of higher education in Moldova is affecting the quality of democracy and economic development. Experts in the field say that the entire university system needs to be reformed and adjusted to international standards. A higher education reform has been initiated this year by the Ministry of Education and Research, although the reform has been under discussion for at least five years. The government has contracted a USD 39.4 million loan from the World Bank for the reform, and the concern of some experts in the field is that the money could be spent inefficiently, as several risks were not taken into account when drafting the reform. Read more in the journalistic investigation conducted by Friedrich-Ebert-Shtiftung (FES) in partnership with the Center for Journalistic Investigations.

Wagons of debts pulled by the Moldovan Railway Company

A new journalistic investigation conducted within the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Project “Violation of Labour Rights in the Republic of Moldova: journalistic investigations", implemented in partnership with the Center for Investigative Journalism is presenting the sad story of the railway company employees who haven’t received their salaries for months.

Protests broke out at the Moldovan Railway Company stations all over the country. While the employer failed to deliver on the promise to pay the salary arrears, the branch trade unions keep turning a blind eye at the problems confronted by those whom they are meant to protect and represent.

Daily workers - modern slavery between legality and reality

A new draft law aimed at regulating the way the daily workers can perform occasional unskilled work that has been adopted by the Government recently has raised controversial discussions.

While the employers are of the opinion that the law will make it easier for them to hire unskilled workers -with minimum documents and taxes- the trade unions as well as local and international experts got alarmed by the news saying the law will contribute to more abuses by the employers, depriving the workers of any social protection.

Read more in the investigation and the watch the documentary conducted by Friedrich-Ebert-Shtiftung (FES) in partnership with the Center for Journalistic Investigations.

Without jobs and with unpaid salaries at the ‘mercy’ of justice

A new journalistic investigation conducted within the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Project “Violation of Labour Rights in the Republic of Moldova: four examples", implemented in partnership with Platzforma and the Center for Investigative Journalism, is presenting the story of the former employees of the “Orlact” Ltd from Orhei, once a prosperous company, famous for its mayonnaise and dairy products.

In a very short period, its new owners brought the company to bankruptcy by means of contracting a dozen of uncovered loans. Going through the insolvency procedure, the company management has sent the employees on unpaid leave, ”forgetting” to pay their outstanding salaries. The workers, who remained at the mercy of justice, have been trying already for the third year to get their salaries, but so far without success. Read here the full investigation and watch the documentary.

Fighting for Wages at the Glodeni Zahar JSC

They had to spend years in courts in search for justice, in order to obtain their unpaid salaries. After 7 years of court proceedings and with the court decision in their favour, the employees are still asking themselves who is going to pay their salaries now that the enterprise has been removed from the State Registrar of Enterprises. This is the story of the employees from the Glodeni Sugar Factory that has been liquidated recently.

Read the investigation that was conducted within the project “Violation of Labour Rights in the Republic of Moldova: four examples", implemented by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in partnership with Platzforma and the Center for Investigative Journalism. “Gordian Knot” is a documentary about the situation of the employees of the Glodeni factory, produced within the same project. Follow us on for other investigations about labour rights’ violation and problems faced by the Moldovan employees.

Working in the underground without salaries and any social protection

The Mileştii Mici Stone Mine State Enterprise, once a profitable enterprise, is on the verge of bankruptcy. The workers who have dedicated 20-30 years of their life to the work in the mine, are now forced to accept technical unemployment or work without salaries for months.Those who get sick or retire are realizing they are not entitled to health care or years of hard work in the mine have not been considered while calculating the pension for the reason that the employer had not paid the social contributions to the health and social insurance fund.

Read here the full investigation and watch the documentary produced within the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Project “Violation of Labour Rights in the Republic of Moldova: four examples", implemented in partnership with Platzforma and the Center for Investigative Journalism.