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7 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 87/2000
On 15 December, Chernobyl nuclear power station will shut down forever. Yet there is no safety net for the displaced Chernobyl workers and their families.
Unions worldwide are to step up their pressure for an internationally financed social plan.
"It is a disgrace that, one month before the shutdown, there is still no social plan in place," said Fred Higgs today. He is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). For over a decade now, the ICEM has been lobbying for a proper social closure plan at Chernobyl.
Higgs is just back from Ukraine, where he discussed the crisis with Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and union leaders last week. The ICEM visit was timed to coincide with the Ukrainian government's official release of a social plan document for the Chernobyl workers. Drawn up with union participation, the plan has now been through the consultative process with the ministries concerned and is to be placed before the Ukrainian parliament.
Only one important question remains - who will help pay for the safety net?
This will have to include stimulation of new employment, retraining, health insurance, unemployment benefits and full pension provisions.
But it will also have to cover the cost of refinancing infrastructure currently paid for by the power station.
This is a crucial issue for the city of Slavutich, built to house the Chernobyl workers and their families after the nuclear accident in 1986. Up to now, the power station had been picking up the tab for about 97 percent of the city's infrastructure, from housing to schools, clinics and municipal services.
For the 24,200 residents of Slavutich, new jobs are the crucial issue. Although it has been given the status of a special economic zone, only five new investment projects have materialised so far.
For the municipal authorities, meanwhile, the biggest headache is a complete lack of funds.
"When Chernobyl closes on 15 December, the power station will immediately cease to have any income," explains Higgs, who visited both the power station and Slavutich last week. "In turn, this means that the city will lose almost its entire budget."
Hence the steep bill for refinancing the infrastructure. A tall order indeed for Ukraine's battered economy, but by no means impossible for the international community. After all, it has already pledged 700 million dollars towards sealing off the Chernobyl reactors. A further 175 million dollars' worth of western aid could go towards paying for new Ukrainian power plants to replace Chernobyl.
Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko "has been pressing ahead with restructuring of the Ukrainian energy market, and she fully recognises the need for a Chernobyl social plan," Higgs said after his discussions with her. "The ICEM will cooperate with her in increasing our pressure on the G7 countries and other institutions for funding of the social plan."
Higgs also held talks with ICEM Vice-President Aleksandr Jurkin, who chairs Ukraine's Atom Trade Union (ATU); with union officers and management at Chernobyl; with Aleksandr Stoyan, Chairman of the Ukraine Trade Union Federation; with Yuri Samoilenko, who chairs the Ukrainian parliament's environmental policy committee; and with Slavutich city officials.
"Next April or May, the ICEM and the ATU will organise an international trade union event near Chernobyl," Higgs said. "By that time, we expect to see a properly financed social plan in place. These people have already suffered so many traumas. They must not be forced to see their whole community disintegrate once again."
Unions worldwide are to step up their pressure for an internationally financed social plan.
"It is a disgrace that, one month before the shutdown, there is still no social plan in place," said Fred Higgs today. He is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). For over a decade now, the ICEM has been lobbying for a proper social closure plan at Chernobyl.
Higgs is just back from Ukraine, where he discussed the crisis with Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and union leaders last week. The ICEM visit was timed to coincide with the Ukrainian government's official release of a social plan document for the Chernobyl workers. Drawn up with union participation, the plan has now been through the consultative process with the ministries concerned and is to be placed before the Ukrainian parliament.
Only one important question remains - who will help pay for the safety net?
This will have to include stimulation of new employment, retraining, health insurance, unemployment benefits and full pension provisions.
But it will also have to cover the cost of refinancing infrastructure currently paid for by the power station.
This is a crucial issue for the city of Slavutich, built to house the Chernobyl workers and their families after the nuclear accident in 1986. Up to now, the power station had been picking up the tab for about 97 percent of the city's infrastructure, from housing to schools, clinics and municipal services.
For the 24,200 residents of Slavutich, new jobs are the crucial issue. Although it has been given the status of a special economic zone, only five new investment projects have materialised so far.
For the municipal authorities, meanwhile, the biggest headache is a complete lack of funds.
"When Chernobyl closes on 15 December, the power station will immediately cease to have any income," explains Higgs, who visited both the power station and Slavutich last week. "In turn, this means that the city will lose almost its entire budget."
Hence the steep bill for refinancing the infrastructure. A tall order indeed for Ukraine's battered economy, but by no means impossible for the international community. After all, it has already pledged 700 million dollars towards sealing off the Chernobyl reactors. A further 175 million dollars' worth of western aid could go towards paying for new Ukrainian power plants to replace Chernobyl.
Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko "has been pressing ahead with restructuring of the Ukrainian energy market, and she fully recognises the need for a Chernobyl social plan," Higgs said after his discussions with her. "The ICEM will cooperate with her in increasing our pressure on the G7 countries and other institutions for funding of the social plan."
Higgs also held talks with ICEM Vice-President Aleksandr Jurkin, who chairs Ukraine's Atom Trade Union (ATU); with union officers and management at Chernobyl; with Aleksandr Stoyan, Chairman of the Ukraine Trade Union Federation; with Yuri Samoilenko, who chairs the Ukrainian parliament's environmental policy committee; and with Slavutich city officials.
"Next April or May, the ICEM and the ATU will organise an international trade union event near Chernobyl," Higgs said. "By that time, we expect to see a properly financed social plan in place. These people have already suffered so many traumas. They must not be forced to see their whole community disintegrate once again."