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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 10/2002
Potash workers in Belarus are leading the fight against anti-union measures brought in by the country's President, Alexander Lukashenko.
The potash mining and fertiliser company Belkaliy, based in Soligorsk, has become the main focus of labour discontent with Lukashenko's rule.
On 14 December, the Belarus Council of Ministers issued a decree banning the check-off of union dues. This was just the latest in a long series of anti-union measures ranging from the freezing of union bank accounts to surveillance by the state security service, the KGB.
The unions are challenging the check-off ban in the courts, as the measure flouts existing collective agreements, labour laws and a previous ruling by the constitutional court. It also violates the international union rights standards set by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) and ratified by Belarus. The ILO has repeatedly criticised breaches of freedom of association in Belarus.
In Soligorsk on 11 January, two unions launched a campaign against the Lukashenko government's anti-union measures. Belkhimprofsouz and the Independent Union of Belarus held a rally at which workers unanimously condemned the illegal measures against trade unions and backed an appeal to end the persecution. They also demanded that the check-off ban be lifted by 1 February. Otherwise, a five-minute token strike would be held as a first protest, and other Belarussian unions would be invited to join. This was a powerful signal, as Belkaliy is the country's biggest earner of hard currency.
At the global level, the unions at Belkaliy are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
ICEM regional Vice-President Alexander Yurkin dispatched a protest letter to Lukashenko, while the ICEM's regional coordinator Andre Mrost sent a solidarity message to the rally in Soligorsk. Both documents were read out at the rally and were published in local union papers.
Letters of protest to the Belarus government, and of solidarity to the Belarus unions, were also sent by the ICEM's Russian affiliates. Belarus and Russia have strong cultural ties. Indeed, a political union between the two countries has sometimes been mooted. Russian trade unions are therefore particularly concerned about recent developments in Belarus. Russia's President Putin is also understood to have pressed Lukashenko to reopen dialogue with the Belarussian unions.
But Lukashenko has so far turned a deaf ear. Interviewed by the national press agency Belpan on 1 February, he repeated that he would not rescind the check-off ban. And he described trade unions as an "army of idlers".
OFFICIAL DISPUTE
In another sign of the times, the planned token strike was declared illegal in advance by a Soligorsk court. The unions, already facing financial problems due to the check-off ban and other anti-union measures, were threatened with severe sanctions if they went ahead with the strike.
So they decided instead to launch the procedure for declaring an official dispute with the company, even though the current labour legislation makes this a very time-consuming business.
Amongst other things, it entails the holding of branch meetings to formulate the union's demands, followed by a conference of delegates who have to be specially elected for the occasion.
As the two unions at Belkaliy have separate collective agreements, they were also required to hold separate conferences. First off was Belkhimprofsouz. The ICEM Vice-President and regional coordinator arrived on the eve of the conference and discussed final preparations with the union's President, Ludmila Grushetskaya.
The union decided to put only one item on the conference agenda: a request to management to continue the check-off of union dues, in line with the collective agreement. Failure to meet this demand would automatically trigger an official dispute.
Invited to the conference, Belkaliy managers argued that they could not comply, as the company is state-owned and has to obey the government. They also claimed that the threat of a dispute had led the firm's fertiliser customers in places as far away as South Korea to think twice about signing new contracts.
To roars of laughter from the audience, a mineworker shouted back: "You say that in South Korea, which is several thousand miles away, they've already heard about our dispute. Yet the leadership of our country, just 130 km away in Minsk, seem completely unaware of it. Why don't you, the company management, enlighten them?"
Guest speakers at the conference included Franz Vitko, the newly elected President of the Belarus Trade Union Federation, as well as the ICEM Vice-President and regional coordinator.
A secret ballot produced overwhelming support for the demand: 359 in favour, 37 against and 14 abstentions, so the chemical union is now engaged in an official dispute on the check-off issue. The next steps will be negotiation and arbitration. This will pave the way for the chemical workers and other unions to use the same procedure against the check-off ban at other sites. The Independent Union of Belarus and its President, Viktor Babaed, have also launched this procedure.
Meanwhile, the Belarus unions' national federations are planning a national day of action after 20 March.
The ICEM's Eastern European unions are considering possible financial assistance, plus a wider appeal to ICEM affiliates elsewhere. Belarus unions favour the idea of picketing Belarussian embassies around the world.
PRIVATISATION THREAT
Privatisation is another issue now faced by the Belarussian chemical unions. The government has ordered the privatisation of the entire Belneftekhim Group before 19 March this year. The group's production ranges from chemicals through rubber and fertilisers to oil refining.
The unprecedented speed of the privatisation suggests that the government intends to use the check-off dispute to exclude the unions from a say in the privatisation process. Recognising the danger, the Independent Union of Belarus has asked the ICEM to organise a series of workshops to prepare its local branches for an active role in the privatisation.
The potash mining and fertiliser company Belkaliy, based in Soligorsk, has become the main focus of labour discontent with Lukashenko's rule.
On 14 December, the Belarus Council of Ministers issued a decree banning the check-off of union dues. This was just the latest in a long series of anti-union measures ranging from the freezing of union bank accounts to surveillance by the state security service, the KGB.
The unions are challenging the check-off ban in the courts, as the measure flouts existing collective agreements, labour laws and a previous ruling by the constitutional court. It also violates the international union rights standards set by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) and ratified by Belarus. The ILO has repeatedly criticised breaches of freedom of association in Belarus.
In Soligorsk on 11 January, two unions launched a campaign against the Lukashenko government's anti-union measures. Belkhimprofsouz and the Independent Union of Belarus held a rally at which workers unanimously condemned the illegal measures against trade unions and backed an appeal to end the persecution. They also demanded that the check-off ban be lifted by 1 February. Otherwise, a five-minute token strike would be held as a first protest, and other Belarussian unions would be invited to join. This was a powerful signal, as Belkaliy is the country's biggest earner of hard currency.
At the global level, the unions at Belkaliy are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
ICEM regional Vice-President Alexander Yurkin dispatched a protest letter to Lukashenko, while the ICEM's regional coordinator Andre Mrost sent a solidarity message to the rally in Soligorsk. Both documents were read out at the rally and were published in local union papers.
Letters of protest to the Belarus government, and of solidarity to the Belarus unions, were also sent by the ICEM's Russian affiliates. Belarus and Russia have strong cultural ties. Indeed, a political union between the two countries has sometimes been mooted. Russian trade unions are therefore particularly concerned about recent developments in Belarus. Russia's President Putin is also understood to have pressed Lukashenko to reopen dialogue with the Belarussian unions.
But Lukashenko has so far turned a deaf ear. Interviewed by the national press agency Belpan on 1 February, he repeated that he would not rescind the check-off ban. And he described trade unions as an "army of idlers".
OFFICIAL DISPUTE
In another sign of the times, the planned token strike was declared illegal in advance by a Soligorsk court. The unions, already facing financial problems due to the check-off ban and other anti-union measures, were threatened with severe sanctions if they went ahead with the strike.
So they decided instead to launch the procedure for declaring an official dispute with the company, even though the current labour legislation makes this a very time-consuming business.
Amongst other things, it entails the holding of branch meetings to formulate the union's demands, followed by a conference of delegates who have to be specially elected for the occasion.
As the two unions at Belkaliy have separate collective agreements, they were also required to hold separate conferences. First off was Belkhimprofsouz. The ICEM Vice-President and regional coordinator arrived on the eve of the conference and discussed final preparations with the union's President, Ludmila Grushetskaya.
The union decided to put only one item on the conference agenda: a request to management to continue the check-off of union dues, in line with the collective agreement. Failure to meet this demand would automatically trigger an official dispute.
Invited to the conference, Belkaliy managers argued that they could not comply, as the company is state-owned and has to obey the government. They also claimed that the threat of a dispute had led the firm's fertiliser customers in places as far away as South Korea to think twice about signing new contracts.
To roars of laughter from the audience, a mineworker shouted back: "You say that in South Korea, which is several thousand miles away, they've already heard about our dispute. Yet the leadership of our country, just 130 km away in Minsk, seem completely unaware of it. Why don't you, the company management, enlighten them?"
Guest speakers at the conference included Franz Vitko, the newly elected President of the Belarus Trade Union Federation, as well as the ICEM Vice-President and regional coordinator.
A secret ballot produced overwhelming support for the demand: 359 in favour, 37 against and 14 abstentions, so the chemical union is now engaged in an official dispute on the check-off issue. The next steps will be negotiation and arbitration. This will pave the way for the chemical workers and other unions to use the same procedure against the check-off ban at other sites. The Independent Union of Belarus and its President, Viktor Babaed, have also launched this procedure.
Meanwhile, the Belarus unions' national federations are planning a national day of action after 20 March.
The ICEM's Eastern European unions are considering possible financial assistance, plus a wider appeal to ICEM affiliates elsewhere. Belarus unions favour the idea of picketing Belarussian embassies around the world.
PRIVATISATION THREAT
Privatisation is another issue now faced by the Belarussian chemical unions. The government has ordered the privatisation of the entire Belneftekhim Group before 19 March this year. The group's production ranges from chemicals through rubber and fertilisers to oil refining.
The unprecedented speed of the privatisation suggests that the government intends to use the check-off dispute to exclude the unions from a say in the privatisation process. Recognising the danger, the Independent Union of Belarus has asked the ICEM to organise a series of workshops to prepare its local branches for an active role in the privatisation.