28 October, 2011IMF affiliates from Central and Eastern Europe met in Prague, Czech Republic, on October 26-27, 2011 for the Regional Conference and Women's Workshop. They discussed pay gap between working men and women, women's participation in the new organization, the process of creating the new federation and cases of union rights violations in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Ukraine and other countries in the region.
CZECH REPUBLIC: IMF affiliates from Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe met in Prague, Czech Republic, on October 26-27, 2011 for the Regional Conference and Women's Workshop. They discussed pay gap between working men and women, women's participation in the new organization, the process of creating the new federation and cases of union rights violations in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Ukraine and other countries in the region. The conference was hosted by the Czech Metalworkers' Federation OS KOVO.
The event was overshadowed by the fact that one of the delegates from Belarus, president of the union REPAM Gennady Fedynich was detained at the Minsk airport by the Belarus police; therefore he couldn't attend the conference. A resolution condemning the actions of the Belarusian authorities against Fedynich was adopted unanimously by the delegates on October 27. This case will be included in the materials of the union's complaint to the ILO on Belarus.
The participants of the Women's Workshop discussed gender pay gap in the region and the development of equality and participation in their own organizations. A women's network was founded by the unions of Southeast Europe. The participants also proposed women's representation at all levels of the new organization and supported the proposal for a 30 per cent gender quota for the Executive Committee of the new global federation.
The process of creating the new federation on the basis of IMF, ICEM and ITGLWF was a key item on the agenda of the Regional Conference. After a brief presentation of the merger process, structures and finances of the new federation by the IMF general secretary Jyrki Raina, the participants expressed their ideas and expectations, and debated the challenges the merger will pose in the region.
Another critical issue raised at the meeting was the worrying spread of precarious employment. President of the Russian union MMWU Mikhail Tarasenko presented the bill that he introduced to the Russian Parliament. The bill bans "triangular employment relationships" and agency work in Russia.
Participants discussed union and workers' rights abuses in the region. Among the most severe cases were increased judicial harassment of unions in Ukraine and the full-blown offensive against the democratic unions in Belarus, the consequences of which the participants of the conference felt themselves, when Gennady Fedynich couldn't come. Other cases presented were the persecution of striking oil workers in Kazakhstan and metal workers in Georgia also on strike.
"Trade unionism is a lifestyle. It's a 24 hours a day job," said Vedran Dragicevic, president of the Metalworkers' Trade Union of Croatia (SMH-IS), referring to reports on increased attacks on trade unionists. "I take it personally. I understand it as attack against me. I cannot stand by and not do anything".