Tough situation of Ukrainian Unions - Trade Union Monitor-2024

The Ukrainian trade union movement continues to operate in extremely difficult conditions caused by the Russian aggression and consequent limitation of rights. Meeting the population’s basic social and humanitarian needs has become a tough task, while campaigning for aligning working conditions with European standards looks almost impossible. In the past two years, employee associations have focused their activities mainly on supporting Ukraine‘s defenders and the victims of armed aggression. Despite being a loyal ally of the state in the fight against the invaders, a majority of unions are constantly subjected to legal and political pressure. The lack of social dialogue has aggravated the workforce crisis and hinders the development of socially acceptable recovery plans.

This is stated in FES Briefing ‘Trade Union Monitor – Ukraine’ (2024) by Vitalii Dudin.

The trade union movement in Ukraine is represented by the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU), as well as myriad smaller associations. The conditions under which they operate are determined by the state of the labour market, in which relations between employees and employers are far from harmonious. Negative socio-economic phenomena are often directly related to the consequences of political decisions made without proper social dialogue.

During the analysis, various challenges to the development of the trade union movement were considered: we are talking about both internal weakness (a manifestation of this is the decline in trade union membership and the inability to take an active position), and an unfriendly political environment for their work (examples are initiated criminal proceedings, attempts to confiscate property and promote legislative initiatives to narrow labor rights). These factors have existed for years and lead to the fact that the authorities are less and less inclined to consider trade unions in general as equal partners for dialogue. However, the crisis situation forces the unions to activate their potential, in particular to consolidate their position on many issues (like adoption of a New Labour Code, drafted in a very neoliberal way) and to turn to international trade union associations for support.

Crisis phenomena on the labor market caused by the war, such as a shortage of workers, create the prerequisites for a significant change in the balance of power in favor of trade unions. However, in order to achieve concessions, they must be more united and demanding.

In any case, the ongoing process of preparing Ukraine for EU membership and the attention of international trade unions to the problems of their Ukrainian counterparts may provide impetus to correct shortcomings in the area of social dialogue and help ensure that trade unions fulfill the functions that are assigned to them in a democratic society.