Contact : Lyuboslav Kostov, Director
Phone : +359 2 4010591
Email : lkostov@citub.net
Website : http://issi.knsb-bg.org/
Short Description
The Institute for Social and Trade Union Research, Education and Training /ISTURET/ is an independent non-government organization for research, education and training. It is an ancestor of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research /established in 1972 as part of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria/ and the Workers’ Education and Training College/established in 2003/.
Our mission is to provide high quality products tailored to the needs of working people in all sectors. Through cutting edge training and education programs along with research papers and in-depth studies, the Institute is a trustworthy partner of the trade union movement in Bulgaria.
Work programme, strategic plan, projects
We have a flexible organisation structure ready to implement its research and training programme. The programme is adopted in accordance with the needs of working people and aims to touch upon the latest developments of the socio-economic context. However we are able to respond to ad hoc activities sought by trade unions, social partners, tripartite bodies, research institutions and other national and international organisations.
We are highly qualified experts with proven experience and expertise in various fields. Team members hold PhD and master degrees in Economics, Sociology, Political sciences, Philology, Education.
We have both research and training expertise. The research activities cover a great variety of topics and aim to develop multidisciplinary papers. ISTURET has its own regular papers provided on quarterly basis on the website. We also publish analysis within referenced national and international journals. Most of our research products are readily available free of charge and thus are being used by many stakeholder organizations. We cover topics like:
- Sectorial spending through the state budget;
- Transposition of EU level directives;
- The national Living wage rate and its relation to collectively bargained wages and the national minimum wage;
- Industrial relations, social dialogue, collective bargaining;
- Labour market policies and working conditions;
- Social policy, poverty and inequalities;
- Economy performance indicators.
We also design and facilitate tailored training that meets the real needs of all employees and build the capacity of the trade union movement as a whole. Our team transposes successfully research results into study curricula and thus gives high quality education and training. We provide VET curricula and methodologies, Key competences Training, Training of Trainers, Career Guidance and Counselling, European and National project Management programs. We have our own Quality Management System for training courses. Part of our training methods has been developed together with international institutions such as the European Trade Union Institute, the International Training Center of the ILO in Turin, and other partner organizations.
For the last 5 years our staff members trained more than 10 000 people on topics related to labour legislation; collective bargaining; OSH; foreign language skills; digital skills.
Other networks the institute is participating in
We implement various projects and activities in co-operation with external organizations. We work with experts from Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), Confederation of Labour “Podkrepa”, representative employers’ organisations, tripartite partnership bodies, relevant government institutions and universities. As our employees participate in the Economic and Social Council of Bulgaria and the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation, we are often engaged in drafting main strategic and policy documents for CITUB.
Since 2023 ISTURET signed a traineeship cooperation agreement with the University of National and World Economy (UNWE). Through it many students are being trained on the industrial relation regime in Bulgaria and develop successful research skills. As of 2024 the ISTURET Director runs a master degree program at UNWE called “Trade unionism and trade union policies”.
We are member of the:
- Bulgarian Economic and Social Council (ESC)
- Trade union-related Research Institutes network (TURI)
- European Social Observatory (OSE)
- Collective bargaining, employee information and consultation network of CITUB
- ETUC related committees.