Belarus union bows to government pressure

BELARUS: After long efforts on the part of the Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, and his government to do away with the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB), the union's leadership decided to give in to the intense pressure and on July 16, in Minsk, elected Leonid Kozik, deputy head of Lukashenko's presidential administration, as the FTUB's new president. Kozik is unknown in the trade union movement. Authorities have been increasing their pressure on independent trade unions in Belarus and interfering in their activities in an attempt to split, weaken and destroy their structures. Included in such government moves was the suppression of the check-off system, suspension of social dialogue, support to "company" unions or to any union which would distance itself from the FTUB. Very unfortunately, this pressure appears to have led many leaders of the FTUB to conclude that only an FTUB president close to Lukashenko and the Belarus government would allow the federation to maintain its activities. Speaking as a delegate at the extraordinary plenum of the FTUB, the president of the IMF-affiliated Belarus Automobile & Agricultural Machinery Workers' Union, Alexander Bukhvostov, stated that "as of July 22 we'll start picketing against trade union rights violations and we invite other unions to join us." Gennadii Fedynich, president of the Radio & Electronics Industry Workers' Union, also affiliated at international level to the IMF, condemned the methods by which the election of the new FTUB president was forced through. An FTUB congress will be held on July 31. Note: The FTUB congress was postponed and finally held in September.