Independent Trade Unions and Their Place in the Belarusian Labor Movement

A brief overview of labor unions, strike committees and initiatives INDEPENDENT TRADE Independent unions: A fight UNIONS AND THEIR PLACE for survival IN THE BELARUSIAN LABOR Strike committees and MOVEMENT growing rifts with unions Initiatives and relations among committees, unions, exiles Lizaveta Merliak and the opposition The prospects for various unions INDEPENDENT TRADE UNIONS AND THEIR PLACE IN THE BELARUSIAN LABOR MOVEMENT Lizaveta Merliak INDEPENDENT TRADE UNIONS AND THEIR PLACE IN THE BELARUSIAN LABOR MOVEMENT WORKERS UNIONIZED, BUT Commission should be disbanded and all registrations INDEPENDENT UNIONS NOT REGISTERED should be made as a matter of mere administrative formality…”. In fact, no independent unions have been Belarus is an absolute champion in appearing in black lists of registered in Belarus for the last 20 years, with only one violators of workers’ rights and continuous failure to fulfil ILO exception: the registration of a BITU structure in 2018 at recommendations. The country appeared in a special UCE Trust Remmontazhstroy in Soligorsk. It took BITU paragraph of the ILO’s Labour Standards Committee eight eight months, three applications to the registering times. authorities, and the loss of over 1,000 of its members due to tremendous pressure from management and Belarus Belarusian Case №2090 involving the violation of workers’ authorities. rights has been discussed within the ILO since 2000. The rights violated by Belarus are fundamental: freedom of In short, although the rules are clear, as is the list of association and collective bargaining, covered by ILO documents a union needs to provide with its application Conventions 87 and 98, and the elimination of all forms of for registration, the game is not fair: registering agencies forced or obligatory labour covered by ILO Convention 29. collude with employers find ways to refuse registration, unless it is registered, an organization is deemed illegal. So, In 2004, the ILO appointed a commission to investigate if a union is illegal, its main goal—to bargain collectively— violations of workers’ rights in Belarus. Following the work cannot be achieved. Worse, any action by an illegal of the Commission of Inquiry, 12 recommendations were organization is subject to the Criminal Code. presented to the Belarusian government to remedy the situation. As a result of its failure to implement ILO And yet, setting up new union organizations looks easy for recommendations in 2007, Belarus lost its trade preferences FPB affiliates. Thus, Belkhimprofsoyuz recently reported under Generalized Scheme of Preferences with EU and the that over 2020 and the beginning of 2021, it was able to US. This cost the state considerable money, but did not register 74 new branches. seem to matter to the government, as it did not change its approach. CLASH OF TITANS: THE FPB, BELKHIMPROFSOYUZ VS THE Ironically, Belarus is also an absolute champion in unionization INDEPENDENTS numbers. While the share of unionized labour has gone down globally, 96% of the working population of Belarus, 4 million, FPB in brief: 4 million members in 15 unions. President: is considered to be a member of the FPB state union Mikhail Orda. Vice-President: Alena Mankevich. Not federation. Over 12,000 Belarusian workers are members of affiliated to ITUC. Four unions affiliated to GUFs. the BKDP or Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions. The FPB is a member of the General Confederation of Riding the wave of August 2020 protests, many Belarusian Trade Unions that consists of several ex-Soviet Union employees at both state-owned and private companies, national federations, like Russia’s FNPR and allies in Central decided they wanted to be organized in unions of their Asia, and a member of the World Federation of Trade choosing. This was easiest for the workers at state-owned Unions (WFTU). The FPB itself consists of 15 industrial companies, where independent and free unions had unions organizer into 7 regional branches. Those affiliated already been established before 1994. These workers just to Global Union Federations1 include: needed to join an existing union. This affected Naftan, – Belkhimprofsoyuz, the Belarusian trade union in the Belaruskali and Grodno Azot. For workers at state-owned chemical, mining and oil industries, which is affiliated companies with no existing independent union, like Peleng, with the IndustriALL Global Union; Belarusian Metallurgical Plant, BelAZ, MAZ, and medical – Belarusian Union of Transport and Communication and educational institutions, the challenge was to establish Worker, affiliated to International Transport Workers their own independent unions on the spot, within one of Federation or ITF Global; the four existing BKDP affiliated unions. Private sector – Belarusian Health Workers’ Union, affiliated with employees faced another level of complexity: to establish Public Service International; and their own organizations at the same time as President – Belarusian Union of Education and Science Workers, Lukashenko demanded that the FPB leadership set up FPB affiliated with Educational International. unions at private companies by the end of 2020. Most of the work with international partners for the FPB is Three new union organizations applied for state done by Belkhimprofsoyuz, whose president is Sviatlana registration, Peleng, EPAM Systems and BMZ, within the Klochok and vice-president Valer Tsitou. The union has Belarusian Independent trade union. The applications for over 140,000 members and is organized into: registration were rejected and the union activists at BMZ were dismissed and faced court charges. 1 A Global Union Federation (GUF) is an international federation One ILO recommendation to the Belarus government back of national trade unions organizing in specific industry sectors or in 2004 was that “… the Republican Registration occupational groups 3 INDEPENDENT TRADE UNIONS AND THEIR PLACE IN THE BELARUSIAN LABOR MOVEMENT – 5 regional union organisations; After the protests in August 2020, the collective agreements – 177 union organisations, including 147 that are legal of Grodno Azot, Naftan and Belaruskali were amended in entities; favour of the corporations, which was made possible with – 572 shop-floor organizations; the support and even the initiative of Belkhimprofsoyuz. – 2,424 union groups; Now workers can be dismissed without the consent of – 1 united organization. their union, including elected representatives of trade unions. The new Collective Agreement with Belaruskali has At the international level, Belkhimprofsoyuz is connected a clause according to which trade unions promise not to to unions in Austria, Brazil (CNQ/CUT, Confederacão organize or call for a strike or any other action involving the Nacional dos Ramos Quimicos da Central Unica dos refusal of workers to perform their work duties, in full or in Trabalhadores), Germany (IG BCE), Latvia (LBAS), and part. Lithuania (LPSK, the Affiliated Chemical Workers’ Union) through its participation in events organized by IndustriALL The Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus claims to be the Global Union. Its president is active in the Women’s country’s largest public organization, uniting some 4 Committee of IndustriALL, and she is a substitute member million workers. The FPB and its affiliated unions officially in the IndustriALL Global Union’s Executive Committee for nominated Aliaksandr Lukashenko candidate for 2020 titular member Ivan Mokhnachuk of Rosugleprof, the presidential elections. During the election, its appointed Russian Independent Coal Workers’ Union. The Russian members were either observers or members of election unions affiliated to FNPR are the closest allies of committees. When the protests broke out at industrial Belkhimprofsouyz, together with the Ukrainian unions enterprises, FPB affiliates started to lose members, and affiliated to Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, FPU, many remaining members were collecting signatures for especially Atomprofspilka, the Atomic Energy and Industry their locals to leave the FPB. Union officials began visiting Workers of Ukraine. state-owned enterprises to talk to the collectives and persuade FPB members to remain in the ranks of the state In 2014 and 2019, BITU, the Belarusian Independent Trade union. One of the two Vice-Presidents under Orda, who Union, made two attempts to have Belkhimprofsouyz had been appointed by Lukashenko, Alena Mankevich, excluded from IndustriALL for complying with to the statutes was on those tours going from one enterprise to another. of the global union due to the government and employer power over the union, as well as its undemocratic internal In February 2021, the FPB began collecting signatures organization and external relations. The top management of under a petition complaining to the ILO about possible EU state-owned companies like Belaruskali are in the ranks of economic sanctions against Belarus. Employees of state- Belkhimprofsoyuz, including even the company’s CEO. owned companies were forced in many cases to sign the These “rank-and-file members” use their position to petition and reported on this in social media. On May 1, discriminate against independent union members, blocking 2021, the only organized demonstration in the country was their promotions and threatening them with dismissal. The organized by the FPB in front of the US embassy, global union has sent two executive committee missions to condemning potential sanctions. Belarus with recommendations that Belkhimprofsoyuz refrain

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