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20 February, 2025On 24 February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unleashed devastation that has ruined hundreds of thousands of lives. Now, three years later, cities lie in ruins, families remain torn apart and countless lives are lost, yet Ukrainian people have stood resolute. Their courage, defiance and unyielding spirit continue to shine through dark times.
IndustriALL Global and industriAll European Trade Union have been steadfast in demanding an end to the war. The organizations have called on international policymakers across Ukraine, the EU and the USA to push for political solutions, peace and justice. The global and European trade unions have condemned the invasion as a flagrant violation of international law and an attack on sovereignty and human dignity.
Last year global unions travelled to Ukraine to reaffirm the global trade union movement’s support of workers and their unions in the country.
“My visit to Ukraine was a sobering reminder of the profound human cost of this conflict, but most of all it reinforced my belief that war has only losers and must be avoided,”
said IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie, when he returned.
Ukraine’s path to the European Union, marked by its candidacy in June 2022, is both a political step and a declaration of hope, ensuring Ukrainian workers a voice in the European trade union movement.
In April 2023, Ukrainian union representatives met in Poland, strategizing ways to support workers suffering under occupation and rampant rights violations. Despite overwhelming challenges, they spoke of hope, rebuilding structures, lives, rights and freedoms.
Ukraine’s workers remain at the frontlines of resilience. With nearly half of the country’s energy infrastructure destroyed, they risk their lives to keep the nation’s power running.
Among these countless courageous stories is one of Lidiya Galkina. A lifelong miner and trade union leader of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPGU) in the now-occupied Luhansk region. Lidiya lost everything when Russian forces destroyed her hometown of Toshkivka. Forced to flee she refused to surrender and she channeled her grief into action by co-founding the humanitarian initiative Step to Victory, crafting camouflage nets and protective gear for Ukraine’s defenders. Her resolve reflects that of millions fighting not only for survival, but for a free and just future.
“If only we could drive the occupiers from our land, then together, we will rebuild everything overcome all hardships and achieve our goals,”
says Lidiya Galkina.
IndustriALL Global and industriAll Europe continues to call on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to intervene with the Russian government to stop the destruction of civilian facilities, in particular energy-generating infrastructure and attacks on civilians, infrastructure and workplaces.
“We reiterate our call to the ILO in coordination with other agencies and programs of the United Nations to support an initiative to help provide the government of Ukraine with thermal generation equipment such as steam turbines, turbogenerators and their control systems and transformers. This international support is vital in helping strengthen the resilience of Ukraine’s energy system, ensuring power supply to Ukraine’s citizens and enterprises, preventing humanitarian and economic collapse and saving workplaces in Ukraine,”
says Atle Høie.
As Ukraine endures relentless attacks on its infrastructure and its people, the fight for survival is matched by the fight for workers’ rights, ensuring that reconstruction is built on justice, dignity, and fairness.
In a recent letter to Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, IndustriALL condemned the ministry of economy’s disregard for over 90 per cent of trade union proposals on the August 2024 draft Labour Code. A revised version, with 15 new articles, was introduced without union consultation.
The draft, soon to be debated in the Verkhovna Rada, violates international labour standards, weakens worker protections and seeks to make wartime labour restrictions permanent. It also omits essential provisions on employer-union relations and worker participation.
IndustriALL Global and industriAll Europe demand that the European Union be clear towards the Ukrainian government about the requirements for accession to the European Union. A negative development in the labor legislation is not compatible with EU membership.
“IndustriALL urges the Ukrainian government to engage in genuine dialogue to ensure labour reforms uphold international standards. Trade unions are crucial to Ukraine’s reconstruction, ensuring that justice, fairness and dignity form the foundation of the rebuilding process. This anniversary, we remember not only losses but the unbeatable strength of Ukraine’s workers. Their struggle is not only for their homeland but for the very principles of peace, justice and democracy that unite us all. The international trade union movement will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,”
says Atle Høie.
Photos: Confederation of Free Trade Unions