The war in Ukraine has cost hundreds of children their lives and thousands have been deported to Russia. These are the findings from UNICEF one year on from the Russian invasion. The organisation says that there are also fears for the mental health of 1.5 million children due to what they have had to endure. Schools ruined; educations lost – just one grim aspect of this war for people in Ukraine.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and war crimes have been documented. On both sides tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, maimed or are missing. Millions of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have sought refuge while hundreds of thousands of young men have fled Russia, not willing to be sacrificed in the attempt to conquer and destroy Ukraine. In Ukraine, many workers and trade union members have lost their lives, and many others are injured, families and communities are destroyed. The bombing of public service infrastructure from energy and water facilities to hospitals and town halls only adds to the struggle to survive.
Solidarity
Solidarity from the European and global labour movement has been astounding. Union members have assisted financially, with humanitarian aid, shelter and other forms of support. Unions in Ukraine set up a lifeline for communities in need of support and hosted displaced people in their facilities. Unions in countries close to the Ukraine like Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Poland stepped up to the challenge. Many union members and unions will join the peace demonstrations across Europe.
No relations with pro-war unions
The international trade union movement has suspended work with the Russian unions, including affiliates of PSI and EPSU, that are members of the FNPR, the confederation that supports the war. We have also suspended relations with the Belarusian health union, part of the confederation whose president lead the re-election campaign of Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 and did not oppose Russian troops using Belarus to attack Ukraine. Neither the union nor the confederation lifted a finger in defence of trade union rights when the BKDP independent trade union confederation BKDP and its affiliates, including EPSU member SPB (Panacea), were destroyed and its leaders put in jail.
Supporting Ukrainian unions in fight over labour reforms
The conflict doesn’t mean a suspension of the campaign to defend trade union rights in Ukraine. Together with the unions there we continue to express our anger over the labour market reforms that limit collective bargaining rights along with the attempts by public authorities to confiscate union buildings and other facilities. We have criticised the lack of union involvement in the planning of the reconstruction of the country. Given the current composition of the Ukrainian government and the interests of corporations in the fat contracts to rebuild, there is a risk that the interests of workers and the people of Ukraine will not come first. The European Commission must be clearer in underlining that the war should not be abused by employers and the government to undermine workers’ rights.
European trade unions supported the future EU membership for Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine and the trade union confederations of Ukraine and Moldova have joined the ETUC. EPSU with many members in Moldova and Ukraine supported this.
Gloomy prospects
While it is easy to see how the war can end – a ceasefire and immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine, it is less easy to see how that will come about. The leadership of Russia lead by Putin has played high stakes, even invoking the use of nuclear arms while curbing the press in Russia, repressing dissent and contributing to a dangerous and dehumanising rhetoric against the Ukrainian people. How we build relations with the Russian unions of FNPR again, is very hard to see right now. The FNPR maintains that the war is a special operation to destroy Nazism, is clamouring to defeat the enemy and sees the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk as part of Russia.
EPSU continues to assist the Ukrainian unions and together we look forward to help build Ukraine as a democratic country. This means working for social justice and a fairer distribution of wealth and income, with respect for freedoms and human rights for all, strong collective bargaining and social dialogue and being part of the global struggle against climate change. This can be an agenda for all European workers and communities, including those in Russia. This will be the pillar needed to underpin a lasting peace settlement. Solidarity to the Ukrainian workers, solidarity to all fighting for a better and peaceful world.
