This article could have been started with a brief story of trade union activities in the developed economies, on legal grounds for their activity or on the degree of their influence on authorities and employers. Also, this article could have compared thes
TRADE UNION STANDS FOR SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP
This article could have been started with a brief story of trade union activities in the developed economies, on legal grounds for their activity or on the degree of their influence on authorities and employers. Also, this article could have compared these factors to the current situation with trade unions in Ukraine. However, competent readers are aware of the possible findings and need no such comparison at all.
To protect social and economic interests of the workers, our industrial trade union has to seek for and test the new approaches in the conditions of the lingering economic recession, nonpayment crisis, prevailing barter transactions, lack of current assets, growing prices for energy resources, tough fiscal policy, loss of control over economic processes, and instability of laws and by-laws.
Our top priorities include initiation and direct participation in elaboration of various measures by legislative and executive authorities to stabilize the functioning of mining and metallurgical companies. Back in 1995, proposal of the Union’s Central Committee initiated establishment of the governmental commission that dealt with mining and metallurgical problems. In January 1997 the commission was transformed into the Interdepartmental Standing Group, which speaks in favor of the fact that its activity was effective enough. Owing to its participation and active support of the deputy Vadim Gurov, the Ukrainian Parliament prepared and passed the decree “On measures to overcome the crisis in the mining and metallurgical complex of Ukraine” on October 6, 1998.
It should be briefly mentioned that the trade union also participated in settlement of other important problems, such as enforcement of the blocked clauses 10, 33, and 34 of the law “On remuneration for labor”; increase in minimal wages and pensions; exemption of sanatoria and health resorts from land rent; restoration of the right to accumulate an innovation fund in the sector; waiver of restrictions imposed on consumption fund and growth of salaries and wages; adjustment of railway freightage rates for iron-ore products, etc. Besides, the Central Committee has settled local problems of the individual work teams as well. Notably, several enterprises were rendered material aid after our address to the government. Besides, the Central Committee participated in discussion of mining problems in the Cabinet of Ministers, which resulted in financing of shut-down of several mines located in the Kryvbass region, restructuring of mining companies, and reduction in freightage rates for transportation of exportable iron ore.
It is pleasant to mention that, in general, mining and metallurgical enterprises have become profitable once again. As regards labor conditions and to a larger extent settlement of social issues, the leadership in this sphere is held by such enterprises as Krivorozhstal, Nikolaev Alumina Works, Zaporozhstal, Azovstal, Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol, Nikopol Ferroalloy Works, and Zaporozhye Aluminum Smelter.
Besides, there are several other companies, managers of which pursue a socially-oriented policy and where the trade union committees established by our organization play a significant role exerting influence upon owners and shareholders.
It is a pity, but there are only a few enterprises that can be considered prosperous. The majority of the others have mismatches typical for the current Ukrainian economy. To improve this situation, our State has to set standard rules for all the players on the market. Only the civil society with all its institutions (and trade unions being the most important among them) can ensure observance of these rules.
Did we succeed in becoming such an institution and what else should we do to achieve it? Perhaps, these are the main issues that will be discussed on the 3rd Congress of the Metallurgists and Miners Trade Unions of Ukraine that started on May 18, 2000. But why these issues became so urgent and so stirring for the trade union? The reason lies mainly in those sweeping changes in ownership over means of production that have taken place in recent years. Nowadays, almost 90% of mining and metallurgical companies have been privatized or are in the process of privatization.
It is quite obvious today, that privatization itself has not resulted in automatic enhancement of companies’ efficiency. What is more, this process had extremely adverse social and economic consequences. This privatization failed to attract strategic industrial investors (with a few exceptions) to Ukrainian companies, as it had been anticipated and promised before. Only 31 out of the 118 privatized mining and metallurgical enterprises plan to obtain investments within the coming 3 to 5 years. And what is worse, it is a long way between promises to invest capital and execution of these promises, e.g. the planned actions often fail to be accomplished, while the obtained investments often find inefficient use.
These factors completely destroyed the illusions nourished by our trade union with respect to objectives and tasks of privatization, namely the popular ideology that extolled distribution of property to the grass roots actually disguised a pragmatic and rough program aimed at rapid establishment of the new proprietary class. This program has been successfully accomplished and cost the new owners almost nothing, while the general public has suffered great losses.
In the sphere of working relations in such a society, trade unions get a greater influence as a social partner, and respectively, as a social opponent of employers and owners.
Tripartism is the most widely accepted term for relations among trade unions, the state, and employers. However, in the mining and metallurgical industries of Ukraine only two parties can be distinguished clearly, namely the trade union and the state, with interests of letter being represented by the State Committee for Industrial Policy and the State Property Fund. Alas, the proposed social partnership lacks the third party so far.
The trade union’s Central Committee has repeatedly attempted to initiate establishment of the sectoral Board of Entrepreneurs. It looked like we got some support and understanding, but there have been no tangible results. In the meantime, absence of this Board affects the workers. In such circumstances, it is still impossible to pass the bill of the Mining Law of Ukraine that stipulates for significant social benefits for miners in case the trade union, the Board of Employers, and the Cabinet of Ministers enter into a relevant agreement. Such an agreement has never been signed because of the lack of the third party. But who benefits from this situation?
In our opinion, lowered state control over this industry remains a serious problem as well.
This problem makes us anxious since we strongly believe that the trade union can exist only in conditions of the functioning enterprises. The more prosperous the company is, the better it is for the company’s workers. Thus, the trade union is responsible for further functioning and development of enterprises, so that the latter could provide workers with jobs, wages, and social guarantees.
Along with this, we cannot be neutral as regards those productive losses that are incurred due to the current redistribution of property. It would be better to say that we are concerned not with the very fact of redistribution since market sets its own rules, but rather with the methods employed in this process.
What we see is that the Ukrainian State can provide only indirect control over this sector. Too often we face the situation when new owners care only for today and bear no responsibility for the results of their activity and for future of their enterprises trying to make quick profits.
Besides, the future business of the 4th manufacturing-stage enterprises, repair and maintenance organizations, sectoral scientific research institutes, and research and development institutions remains the matter of the state concern as well.
Companies that have obtained corporate rights for trust management over the state-owned shares have been reported to sometime interfere in operational and running financial activities of the firms that they trust-manage. This usually results in the situation when the management of enterprises appears to be pushed aside from control over financial and commodity flows, despite the effective laws.
Contracts with wise and efficient managers are groundlessly broken off. For the sake of rapid moneymaking, these managers are dismissed lest they could hinder metallurgical mills from turning into exporters of semi-finished products.
We consider the existing situation as being abnormal. Despite the prevalence of market relations, preservation of the state control over such key sectors as mining and metalmaking is strongly needed. Arguing in favor of its position, the trade union’s Central Committee independently and with assistance of sectoral specialists has regularly addressed this issue to executive authorities in recent years.
Finally, this proposal was embodied in the mentioned Decree adopted by the Ukrainian parliament on October 6, 1998. As a result, a draft Regulation on the State Committee for Metallurgical Industry has been worked out and affirmative resolution signed by the President of Ukraine has been obtained. So what? The central executive authorities have been changed once again and the presidential resolution has been given no attention at all, except for creation of the Metallurgy Department within the State Committee for Industrial Policy, which in turn is subordinate to the Ministry of Economy. However, people who are well acquainted with the realities of our business life clearly understand how tremendously much time it will take in this case to lobby establishment of the Board of Entrepreneurs. It seems like nobody cares about us!
Should our trade union have strong and efficient social partners, it could have a grater influence upon the employment problem as well.
This problem has not been settled for a long time now. Though there were no massive dismissals of staff, the number of workers dropped by 120,000 or 17% in 1996-1999.
Activation of market adjustments and further redistribution of property will add to urgency of this issue, which can be brightly illustrated with the draft National Program for Development of Mining and Metallurgical Complex of Ukraine. Excessive number of industrial staff will amount to 125,000 workers in 2010, omitting nonferrous metallurgy and sectoral scientific institutions. The planned transference of these workers to new jobs created in the process of diversification (40,000 people) and to construction of new structures for the industry’s needs (38,000 people) proposed by the Program has never been confirmed by the economic calculations, which also applies to the real employment of the other 45,000 workers via employment agencies.
Owing to great shortage of jobs and low rates of appearance of new jobs, the trade union’s Central Committee considers it premature to dismiss workers from those enterprises, where they can still work at least as part-time employees. This position has been mentioned in various plenary sessions, by the Sectoral Labor Agreement, collective labor agreements at individual companies, and in our proposals for improvement of employment laws submitted to executive authorities.
To facilitate timely payment of wages and payoff of the arrears, the Central Committee addressed the President of Ukraine (with the address entitled “On priority wage payments”) and the Ukrainian Federation of Trade Unions (“On enhancement of effectiveness of social partnership” and “On inconsistencies between the Cabinet’s decree No.1648 of September 7, 1999, and the General Labor Agreement for 1999-2000”). The former address sent to the Federation outlined the necessity of giving top priority to wage payment among all the other company’s payables, while the latter requested to render decree No. 1648 invalid since it puts obstacles to payoff of debts on due wages and salaries.
The addresses of the Central Committee resulted in the regulation adopted by the parliament of Ukraine on October 12, 1999, suggesting the Cabinet of Ministers to take additional steps to pay off the wages and ensure priority disbursement of financing for this purpose.
It is worth mentioning that owing to these measures, wage debts in the industry were reduced by 29% in 1999. This is a true example of the trade union’s activity aimed at social protection of workers. What is more, the Central Committee insisted on adding a clause stipulating for payoff till July 1 to the Sectoral Labor Agreement for 2000.
It is extremely necessary for the social partners to discuss the issue of control over creation and observance of healthy and safe labor conditions by employers.
Today, this control and protection of rights and legitimate interests of the workers are performed by 15 senior and technical labor inspectors who work for the trade union’s Central Committee and enjoy rights and responsibilities assigned in compliance with the Labor Code of Ukraine and laws “On protection of labor” and “On trade unions”.
To improve the organizational structure and enhance effectiveness of technical inspectors’ activity taking into account sectoral and territorial principles, the regulation “On senior and technical labor inspectors” has been issued and approved by the Ukrainian Federation of Trade Unions and the State Committee for Control over Labor Protection of Ukraine. Technical inspectors have received special IDs of freelance state inspectors that control the labor protection and are authorized to provide employers with legally binding instructions.
Technical labor inspection exercised by the trade union has resulted in the rate of lethal industrial injuries dropping by 37.2% in 1999, while 360 suits brought against violations of payment and charging of non-recurrent aids to injured workers were satisfied in the courts and by the public prosecutors in the past 3 years.
To provide workers with social and economic support in labor protection and to accumulate and rationally use the labor funds accumulated at specific enterprises, the trade union’s Central Committee has established the Labor Protection Fund. Together with the Ministry for Industrial Policy and Krivoy Rog GosNIIBTG, the Labor Protection Fund has developed, tested, and introduced summer facilitated protective work garments for those employees who work in coke-making and hardware industries. Owing to the direct support of the State Committee for Control over Labor Protection of Ukraine and the Ministry for Industrial Policy, the Labor Protection Fund, Krivoy Rog GosNIIBTG, and Equator Works of Nikolaev have introduced a pilot air-conditioner installed in the cabin of a bridge crane in the metallurgical mill.
Such air conditioners have been already installed in Krivorozhstal and Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol, while one of the divisions of Avdeyevka Coke Chemical Recovery Works is next in turn. Besides, the Fund renders assistance to enterprises that are willing to buy inexpensive and high-quality protective work garments.
The next concern of our trade union relates to the fact that, due to the low wages, workers today are unable to afford the appropriate level of healthcare, rest, cultural entertainment, and sports. Thus, the trade union insists that owners preserve the functioning social resorts. It should be noted that, despite unsatisfactory financial health intrinsic to many enterprises in the sector, sanatoria, preventive treatment centers, boarding houses, rest homes, and camps have lately had more work to do. This also caused a 5.2% drop in average annual index of temporary disability (caused by diseases) down by 5.2% and a 62.7% reduction in the number of occupational diseases.
Along with this, expenditure of assets given for social insurance and used to pay medical bills witnesses a steady rise.
In 1999, the industry spent UAH 56.5 million to pay these bills, which makes up 71% of the total social insurance expenditures. At the same time, the money spent for sanatoria and health resorts and maintenance of preventive treatment centers and children’s health camps has been twice as low.
The existing situation also features persistent attempts of the Ukrainian government to replenish revenues of the state budget using social insurance money. This year trade unions have succeeded to defend the workers. However, the struggle doesn’t seem to be over for long. Thus, it has become the issue of paramount importance today to make employers provide the collective labor agreements with their obligations as to maintenance of sanatoria, preventive treatment centers, other health resorts, sports schools for children, as well as to payment of various grants ensured by the social insurance money.
Finally, the Sectoral Labor Agreement for 2000 became the first one to include a new “Social partnership” chapter, which mentioned that the contracting parties assume an obligation to develop their relations strictly on the ground of social partnership; contribute to creation of bodies that could enable such relations, namely the sectoral Board of Employers and the sectoral Council for Social Partnership; add to improvement of the laws regulating social and labor relations; facilitate introduction of social partnership at individual companies.
These factors are of primary importance. In practice, violation of the labor law has extended abnormally. Our scanty legal inspection alone registered 2,343 violations, 9,624 members of the trade union were rendered assistance in preparation of claims, and more than 6,724 workers asserted their rights in the court. This determined the priorities for future activities of the trade union, namely protection of labor rights of its members by skilled lawyers and legal commissions controlled by experienced specialists.
Our trade union is ready to work with any owners and managing companies, who acknowledge social partnership, observe the labor legislation, and are willing to conduct equitable negotiations and conclude collective labor agreements and agreements on tariff allowances.
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