Trade Unions to Deal With Private Business :: Charter'97 :: News

In his address to Belarusian nation and so-called “parliament”, Alyaksandr Lukashenka stated that it is necessary to establish control of trade unions over the private business. It means Lukashenka supports the idea to confer supervising functions to official trade unions.

As said by the head of state, recently the number of complaints to violations of social and labour guarantees in private enterprises increased. The salaries are withheld, job safety rules are ignored. That is why the head of state urged the government and the Federation of Trade Unions to “address the problem” of private enterprises.

“Private form of ownership,” Lukashenka told, “does not allow establishing your own laws. The salaries are to be paid on time. And not below the minimal level determined by the state”. Thus entrepreneurs are to get ready for control tightening, and not only on the part of the state.

Last year chairman of the Belarusian Trade Unions Federation Leonid Kozik proposed an idea of total coverage of private enterprises by official trade unions. According to the plans of the head of trade unions federation, trade unions are to appear at enterprises of all forms of ownership. Economic methods are to be employed to fight with deviationists. It has been proposed to introduce special due in favour of Trade Union Federation – 3% of the labour compensation fund.

Moreover, it is proposed for the trade unions to control the observation of the labour regulations and defend the rights of workers even when they do not belong to trade unions.

It could be said once again that such plans contradict international agreements and the legislation of Belarus, which underline voluntary character of trade unions forming. But it is better to draw practical conclusions and get ready for stricter control, the “Belorusskiy Rynok” writes.