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2002-09-18 Trade Union Rights Violations in Belarus Continue
The conditions under which Leonid Kozik (who came directly from the presidential administration of Alexander Lukashenko) became President of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (plenum of the FTUB, July 16) augured badly for the prospects of a free, independent and democratic trade union movement in Belarus. Unhappily, the first steps implemented by the new President have confirmed the worst. Since the election, it seems that the main priority of L.Kozik has been to purge the FTUB of its most independent leaders and activists. This has been done in preparation for the Congress that is planned for 19-20 September. The process started at the level of the regional federations leaders. Vladimir Mirochnik, president of the Brest regional Association of Trade Unions, had been removed during a regional union conference. Nikolai Kovsh, president of the Brest regional committee of Science and Education Union (and the only delegate who took the liberty to support the disgraced leader) received a ‘recommendation’ to resign. The new president of the Brest Association of Trade Unions is Nikolai Basalai, head of executive committee of Moscow district of Brest. On August 22 in Polotsk, at the plenum of the regional organisation of the Union of Construction Workers, the deputy general director on social affairs and information work of OAO Stroitelnii Trest N9’ was elected as chairman of the regional union committee. In an attempt to call off the ILO complaint about trade union rights violations in Belarus, the new FTUB leadership is attempting to remove the union leaders who signed it. Alexander Yaroshuk, president of the agriculture workers’ union, was one of those who signed the ILO complaint. On September 10, 2002, he was removed by a plenum of his executive. The union’s constitution only allows for the election of union presidents by congresses. Nevertheless, in defiance of it own constitution, the plenum elected Vladimir Samasyuk, the former deputy agriculture minister (who was working as the head of the investment department of the agriculture ministry) as the new president of the union. Similar purges occur in free trade union mass media also. Leonid Kozik submitted a proposal to the FTUB Presidium to dismiss Alexander Starikevich, chief editor of the FTUB newspaper ‘Belaruski Chas.’ His proposal was not endorsed by the Presidium (July 25). Yet, L.Kozik made the decision on his own, and, three days later, arbitrarily relieved A.Starikevich of his duties. All these facts are a source of a great concern to the ICFTU, particularly since the economic and social situation in Belarus is not improving for the workers and the people. Unemployment is growing, and the practice of non-payment of wages continues. The payments of pensions and children’s benefits are also delayed. Under such conditions, the attacks against the trade unions - against the only democratic structure that can express workers’ dissatisfaction - are particularly worrying. The fact that Leonid Kozik, the new FTUB President, continues to fulfill his state functions does not clarify the situation. Within this framework, he recently paid a visit to Iraq in order to deliver a personal message from President Alexander Lukashenko to Saddam Hussein. The responsibilities he maintains as the co-chairman of the Belarus-Iraq Trade Economic Commission and also as the head of the Commission on Union Treaty with Russia encourage the confusion. The trade union movement, and the FTUB in particular, can only lose in this systematic combining of trade union functions and public functions. All these elements clearly show that the independence of FTUB, and therefore its very ability to play its role as a defender of the rights and the interests of its members, is at stake. The ICFTU will closely monitor the evolution of the situation in the next few days, particularly the organization of the next Congress. Under the present conditions, the Congress seems to be designed to restore the FTUB to its function as a “transmission belt” of the government and the presidential administration of the country. For this reason, the ICFTU will only send an observer to this Congress, and will not participate in it, as it did in the previous Congress of the FTUB. The ICFTU is also planning a meeting with its affiliates, the G.U.F., and the trade union leaders who want to maintain free and independent trade unionism in Belarus. In close cooperation with the ILO, the ICFTU intends to define the most appropriate actions needed, in order to fully implement the international labour standards and to achieve the full respect of the ILO Conventions ratified by the Republic of Belarus, in particular the Convention 87 on Freedom of Association.
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