On 1 May, Labour Day, the Trade Union of Railway and Transport Builders of Ukraine expresses solidarity with the Finnish trade unions protesting today against the anti-social measures of their government.
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the Finnish government has made a number of decisions that deprive workers of the right to strike, limit the role of trade unions and significantly reduce the level of social security.
The ITF has created a petition in support of Finnish trade unions calling on the government to withdraw the proposed changes to labour legislation.
This petition was also signed by the head of our trade union, Oleksiy Semerun’, because the situation in Finland is similar to the situation in our country. The union leader told ITF about this.
In the letter, he noted that our trade union is in full solidarity with our Finnish colleagues in their struggle, as Ukrainian transport workers, in particular railway workers, were deprived of the right to strike, and only recently, in 2022, in accordance with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, were able to achieve justice. But we can already see that the Ukrainian authorities are following the path chosen by the Finnish government and are trying to establish special conditions for employees to participate in a strike in the draft new Labour Code. This will make it virtually impossible to organise strikes and deprive workers of the opportunity to defend their rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
We understand the need for restrictions on the right to strike in times of war, but we categorically object to attempts to make this the norm in peacetime.
‘We oppose the legislative initiatives of our authorities and have provided substantial comments on them, referring, in particular, to the conventions of the International Labour Organization. And we understand that soon, like our Finnish colleagues, we will be forced to appeal to the international community, including the ITF, for support and solidarity,‘ warned his colleagues from the International Transport Workers’ Federation, Alexei Semerun’.
In support of Finnish trade unions, Frank Morils, president of the European Transport Workers’ Federation, tried to hand over a letter to the Finnish ambassador to the European Union yesterday, 30 April, in Brussels, opposing the government’s anti-union actions. However, representatives of the embassy did not come out to the delegation of European trade unions.
Today, the global trade union community stands in solidarity with the trade unions of Finland in their struggle for workers’ rights!
