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29 May, 2006
Baltic trade union solidarity was at its best last week when the Lithuanian Confederation of Trade Unions picketed and presented a formal letter of protest to the Estonian embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania. At the same time, on 25 May, Estonian trade union federations EAKL and TALO were demonstrating in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
The joint protest is over the Estonian government’s proposed Employees’ Representatives Act, put forward by the Social Affairs Ministry. If passed into law, the measure would exclude legitimate trade union representatives from information and consultation procedures inside worksites, as well as give employers the leverage to sack trade union delegates.
EAKL Chairman Harri Taliga said the proposed legislation was shaped only with the narrow interests of employers in mind. The ICEM has written to Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip to express concern with the bill, specifically citing it with violating ILO Conventions 98 and 135, as well as a European Union directive on trade union rights.