“Directors’” Trade Union Set Up At MAZ :: Charter'97 :: News

The new trade union organization is currently being set up at the Minsk car-building plant. The initiative of its creation comes from above, said the chairman of the national trade union of the workers of car-building and agricultural machinery Alexander Bukhvostov at the March 6 press-conference in Minsk.

At the moment they are collecting signatures under the proposal to set up a new trade union structure. Under the current legislation, to do so one needs to gather the signatures of 10% of the company’s employees. Bukhvostov states that the heads of workshops and sections were given instructions to assist in the formation of the new trade union, reports BelaPAN. The plant’s administration also pledges to help transfer to the new structure’s accounts the trade union dues, which is a breach of the governmental ruling of December 14, 2001. As is known, this ruling cancelled the cashless order of dues payment, having evoked quite a negative feedback from both the Belarusian trade unions and the international trade union structures.

Bukhvostov leaves no doubt that the creation of the new trade union structure at one of the country’s leading plants is called to split up not only the industrial trade union, but the whole Belarusian trade union movement. The “architects” of the new trade union structure are harboring far-going plans on setting up on the basis of the new trade unions a structure, which would be alternative to the FTB. Bukhvostov claims that such structure has no alternative to it, as far as in the rest of the world the creation of “directors’” trade unions is considered a betrayal of the very trade union idea. The destiny of such trade unions in the international workers movement, according to Bukhvostov, will remind of the destiny of the contemporary Belarus at the international arena – they will become rogues.