Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS REFERENCES LITERATUR IN THE UKRAINE<br />
Seite page 234<br />
presence to five branches (teachers, miners,<br />
transportations, medical workers and football<br />
players) but remained too small to break the<br />
dominance of ex-official unions.<br />
Remarkably, throughout 1994-1996 the leaders<br />
of independent trade unions could not work<br />
out an effective work strategy in conditions<br />
of economic crises (Razumkov Centre 1997).<br />
With the background of harsh economic<br />
conditions, these unions lacked organizational<br />
experience and technical capacities except<br />
organizing militant actions. While the FPU<br />
employed one of the best economists and<br />
lawyers, independent unions could employ<br />
experts only – mostly those who could not find<br />
another job. However, financial resources of<br />
these unions were limited (interviews). It also<br />
lacked experienced leaders in newly emerging<br />
enterprise-based unions, as the capacity of the<br />
KVPU to educate all new-comers was also<br />
restricted. It should be recognized that such<br />
a disadvantage originates from the initially<br />
unequal starting conditions of both – ex-official<br />
and independent unions. While the former<br />
retained and expanded their financial base (as<br />
described in the previous section), alternative<br />
trade unions could solely offer their members<br />
benefits of the solidarity-driven struggle for<br />
better life but none of immediate material<br />
benefits implicitly expected by workers.<br />
Meanwhile, the non-agreement of these unions<br />
with the prevailing consumerist-like<br />
union-worker relationships makes<br />
further attempts at expansion more<br />
resource-demanding.<br />
The expansion of independent trade unions<br />
within the traditional core branches of the<br />
economy (coal-mining and metallurgy)<br />
coincide with the consolidation of oligarchies<br />
and financial-industrial groups. The resulting<br />
harassment and persecution of the free<br />
trade unions intensified in the late 1990s<br />
under Kuchma’s Presidency. Between 2002<br />
and 2004, the KVPU President was beaten<br />
five times by the police in public places. His<br />
family members were persecuted and in 2004<br />
his son was kidnapped and heavily beaten.<br />
Leaders of regional and local trade union<br />
organizations were persecuted, as well. Many<br />
newly established local union organizations<br />
were literally immediately destroyed either by<br />
local authorities or employers and independent<br />
unions (interviews and the numerous KVPU’s<br />
complaints to the ILO). Because of the heavy<br />
persecution and harassment, the KVPU filed a<br />
complaint to the ILO Committee on Freedom<br />
of Association (Case 2388). While it took<br />
the ILO and the government several years to<br />
investigate the complaint, the government<br />
tried to deny any assaults and kept excluding<br />
the KVPU representatives from the delegations<br />
to the annual ILO conferences. It is only after<br />
2004 when Yushenko came to be elected<br />
President of Ukraine did the constraints on<br />
the Confederation’s activities on the part of the<br />
government became looser.<br />
As the example of independent miners’ unions<br />
demonstrates, the prospects of the collective<br />
action, more common in the independent than<br />
ex-official trade unions, have been constrained,<br />
as no law on industrial protests was adopted<br />
and no procedures for their solution put in<br />
place. At that point of time, making actions<br />
illegal appears an easy means to prevent them.<br />
It is worth noting that the adoption of the<br />
law on collective labour disputes (see above)<br />
correlated with the decline in union militancy.