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28 October, 2005
Thousands of trade unionists — including many members of ICEM Ukrainian affiliates — marched on the country’s Rada, or Parliament, 20 October to protest neo-liberal policies contained in the government’s 2006 draft budget.
The picketing, led by Ukrainian Trade Union Federation (FTUU) Chairman Alexander Yurkin, involved a wide range of other Ukrainian trade unions and depicts the mass concern by Ukrainians over a proposed budget that would strip away social safeguards, including decreased funding to the country’s coal sector.
Trade union leaders backed by workers demand that the minimum wage be made equal to Ukraine’s subsistence level and then increased next year, and that social security spending be increased. Lawmakers voted by 306 to 77 to reject the draft budget on the day of the protest, and the Ukrainian parliament has instructed that an adjusted budget be submitted to the Rada on the first day of November.