Read this article in:
2 November, 2009
The main Ukrainian national labour center, the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU), sent a message to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week: stay out of the internal legislative business of the country. FPU leaders, trade unionists, and civil society leaders protested in front of the IMF’s regional office in Kiev on 27 October.
The peaceful pickets protested a statement issued two days earlier by the IMF calling on President Viktor Yushchenko to veto a bill passed by the Parliament on 20 October that would lift levels of social benefits, including minimum wage and pension benefits.
The IMF has threatened to pull a €11.5 billion emergency credit arrangement to Ukraine if Yushchenko signs the legislation, which passed Parliament with a 459 to 254 vote.
Yushchenko has indicated that he will sign the new social benefits bill, thus lifting the minimum monthly living wage to the equivalent of €73.09 on 1 December 2010 after five increments over the next year; and increase the monthly minimum wage to €77.37 on the same date, with incremental hikes from a proposed €62.43 that is due to take effect once Yushchenko signs the bill into law.
The FPU said in a statement that the IMF “is interfering directly in the internal social policy of Ukraine and is trying to weaken social protections, decreasing the level of social guarantees.” The trade union federation also said IMF and other international financial institutions in the past have supported limits on Ukrainian pension expenditures, a rise in the pension age by five years, and strict restrictions on rises in citizens’ incomes.
In a letter presented to the IMF on the day of the protest, the federation demanded that IMF consult with trade unions before changing its conditions on loan guarantees, and said it should work toward alleviating poverty, not promoting it in its guidance policies.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), in coordination with all three of Ukraine’s national labour centres, held a meeting with IMF resident representative Max Alier on 29 October in Kiev over the IMF’s affront to the modest increases in social standards.