A large EPSU delegation joined hundreds of other trade unionists from across Europe to celebrate 50 years of struggle for Europe’s workers and people. We ended the ETUC Congress with the election of a new team and the adoption of an action plan titled ‘Together for a Fair Deal for Workers in Europe’.
Among other issues, the social dialogue partners discussed and approved a joint statement of solidarity with Ukrainian employers, trade unions and workers in the hospital and healthcare sector.
We, CEMR and EPSU, representing social partners at the European Social Dialogue Committee of Local and Regional Governments, strongly condemn the multiple attacks and violations of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine by Russia.
The EPSU affiliates of North East Europe expressed their concerns about developments in the region in the online meeting of the North East European constituency on 3 March. They received information about the situation in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine.
On 29 October thousands of people took part in a protest rally outside parliament to call for urgent action in the education sector. The demonstration was supported by EPSU affiliate the Trade Union of the National Ukrainian Academy of Science. The wide range of demands included a call for an increase in education spending to 7% of GDP, implementation of approved pay scales and an increase in the sector minimum wage and action to prevent teacher dismissals, transfer to fixed-term contracts and increases in working hours.
Trade unions are highly critical of the government for planned measures that could see a 50% cut in district state administrations which could mean the dismissal of 27000 workers by January 2020. The unions say that there has been absolutely no consultation over the proposals, no review of local government services and no information provided on any possible social plan, (re)training initiatives or early retirement arrangements. The unions point out that there are few appropriate private sector job opportunities for many of the skilled workers who could be made redundant.
At its meeting on 21 March, the central committee of the Nuclear Energy and Industry Workers’ Union (NEIWUU) protested about restructuring being carried out in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, where the authority responsible for the zone was taking decisions without consulting the union. The NEIWUU expressed concern about violations of social obligations that are stipulated by the sectoral agreement. The union also gave examples of staff relocations where it had to remind the authority that it had to consult with the union as required by the Labour Code. This was the sixth reform applied to
The Health Workersù Union of Ukraine (HWUU) organised a major protest outside the national parliament on 19 September focusing on pay, healthcare funding and against the commercialisation of the health system. The union called on the government to respond to the labour dispute registered by the union last year and to deal with urgent issues around unpaid wages and failure to properly implement the agreed pay system. The union was also calling for increased funding for the sector and other initiatives to improve health provision. EPSU sent a message of solidarity.
