Ukraine's Industrial Unions: No Voice in Reconstruction

Despite the war and the decline of industry, trade unions in Ukraine continue to defend the interests of their members. The state of the trade union movement was investigated on the basis of interviews with its participants in the paper “Trade Unions in the Industrial Sector in Ukraine: Activity During the War and Vision of Postwar Reconstruction”.

Authors Natalia Lomonosova and Tamara Khurtsidze spoke in 2024 with representatives of Ukrainian trade unions that are part of the international IndustriALL network, which unites 50 million workers in the energy, manufacturing, and mining sectors, about how the war has affectedtheir industry as a whole and the activities of the union itself, as well as what is of primary importance for the postwar recovery of this sector, particularly in regard to the human resources potential lost during the years of war.

The greatest threat to welfare and the economy is predictably Russian aggression, but the liberalization of labor legislation during martial law also hinders responding to violations of workers' rights. Recognizing the weakness of their structures and the crisis-induced decline in membership, trade union activists are considering the need for internal changes adequate to the challenges. There is an opinion that trade unions should borrow European organizing experience to counteract abuses by employers, and to exert influence on the socio-economic course at the national level. In the context of post-war reconstruction, the priorities of trade unions are the development of an industrial policy as an incentive to work in Ukraine, significant investment in the training of qualified personnel, and strengthening control by labor inspectorates to prevent violations.

The collected material suggests that trade unions want to be involved in the development of reconstruction plans, but this requires improving the quality of social dialogue: “Trade unions are largely not regarded by the authorities as full-fledged and important actors in shaping the vision of postwar recovery, despite the fact that many industrial unions express a willingness and desire to be involved in this process.”

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