13 December, 2010
The ICEM participated in the Eastern Europe and CIS regional conference of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) on 3–4 December in Moscow.
The conference brought together 150 trade union leaders from newly independent countries, to identify new challenges and search for strategies and solutions to fight the violation of workers’ and trade union rights.
The conference was attended by the ITUC General Secretary Sharon Barrow; European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary John Monks:, Mikhail Shmakov, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia and President of the PERC: and Igor Kovalchuk, President of the Confederation of Labour of Russia (FNPR).
Trade union rights was identified as a vital necessity in Russia and elsewhere in the region in order to develop civil society and democracy under new conditions of economic modernization.
The conference agreed that in the current environment of the post-crisis recovery, a consolidation of the trade union movement is required in order to respond properly to the challenges common throughout the region.
Speaking about the specific rights of trade unions in Russia, the FNPR’s Shmakov drew attention to the need to liberalise the strike law. “In our country, in contrast to Western countries, it is almost impossible to organize a legal strike, so we must strive to reduce the length of time for conciliation.”
Barrow stated that “the attacks on the rights of the workers are a bad recipe for economic development.” She added: “The role of trade unions as defenders of the legitimate rights of the employees by conducting effective negotiations with the employer is extremely important for the future development of economies and societies in general.”