Trade union solidarity in action

16.07.2020

The next 5 years should become "a five-year period of impeccable quality of trade union work," said the leader of the national trade union center, Mikhail Orda, speaking to the forum participants.

First of all, the chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions touched upon the unprecedented situation in which the whole world finds itself - we are talking about the coronavirus. The pandemic has dramatically changed our lives. Of course, the work of the national trade union center has also undergone changes. The tasks of minimizing the negative consequences of COVID-19 and supporting people and businesses came to the fore.

“Back in March, the FPB took a number of measures aimed at preserving jobs, preventing layoffs, providing workers with disinfectants and providing the necessary assistance to members of trade unions,” recalled Mikhail Orda. - The Federation of Trade Unions has sent a number of proposals to the government on social and economic support of citizens and legal entities. And many of them were taken into account.

Mikhail Orda clarified that on the basis of the President's Decree "On supporting the economy" many enterprises have already received preferences and tax incentives in the amount of about 23 million rubles. According to another document - the Decree “On temporary measures of state support for employers and certain categories of citizens”, employers have the opportunity to receive subsidies for additional payments to employees up to the minimum wage in case of forced underemployment or idle time.

- Chairmen of trade union committees should keep this issue under control. It is necessary to actively interact with the management of enterprises so that the facts of underemployment, insufficient wages are not hushed up and people receive the necessary support promptly, the leader of the national trade union center emphasized.

About salvaged factories, losses and mutual aid funds

It is obvious that, despite the measures taken, it was impossible to avoid the negative consequences of the coronavirus. Over the past months, trade unions have been monitoring the labor sphere and have noted the inevitable: cases of downtime, underemployment have become more frequent, and there are problems with the payment of wages. Mikhail Orda addressed the plenum participants with an urgent request to take all these issues under strict control.

Generally speaking, Belarus has managed to minimize losses associated with the pandemic, Mikhail Orda believes.

“The main thing is that we have preserved production and jobs,” he stressed. “This makes it possible to stabilize the situation in a shorter time and prevent the collapse of the economy.

The FPB chairman cited the example of countries that suffered more tangible damage due to the coronavirus in comparison with Belarus. So, for the first quarter in Ukraine, GDP fell by more than 2%, in France - by 5.4%, Germany - by 2.3%. In Japan, the same indicator decreased by 2.2%. There are examples when in Europe and the USA people were fired by whole teams of several thousand people.

- During this time, our GDP fell by only 0.3%. And at the same time, we avoided mass layoffs, - Mikhail Orda noted.

Labor collectives, who found themselves in a difficult situation, were supported by the trade unions with the help of mutual aid funds created during this period at all levels. Particular attention was paid to vulnerable categories of workers (large and single parents, people with disabilities). The leader of the national trade union center emphasized: if the primary trade union of the enterprise does not have enough funds for the appropriate payments, it means that mutual assistance funds of regional committees, regional committees, and the republican committee of the branch trade union should be used.

“This is the kind of support that people expect from us today,” said Mikhail Orda. In general, in April - June, an impressive amount of over 13 million rubles was spent from the trade union mutual aid funds for the purchase of disinfectants and the payment of material aid to the members of the trade union.

Help to doctors from the FPB fund

In his speech, Mikhail Orda spoke about the support of doctors and the creation of a special charitable foundation. This fund began work in April, its budget was formed mainly by trade union structures, and concerned citizens also responded. In general, the charitable account received about 2 million 200 thousand rubles. Trade unions have already provided material assistance to more than 2,100 employees of healthcare organizations for a total amount of over 1.5 million rubles.

Participate in rule-making activities

Mikhail Orda elaborated on the goals and objectives that are spelled out in the FPB Activity Program for 2020-2025. The emphasis was on improving the working style.

- The current five-year plan should become a five-year plan for the quality of our work. People should see our real deeds, - said the FPB chairman and noted the need for a closer dialogue with the local power vertical.

The leader of the national trade union center made a special emphasis on the possibilities of legal labor inspection. As a reminder, the FPB was the first to co-author the Labor Code, adopted at the beginning of this year. The legal vector of activity, according to Mikhail Orda, needs to be further developed.

- Today, the national trade union center receives all bills that relate to the socio-economic or labor rights of workers. We must ensure that we are directly involved in the development of such documents, so that from the very beginning they take into account the interests of all groups of workers, - explained the chairman of the FPB. - We need to independently develop and propose changes to improve certain bills.

In this vein, already this year the trade unions plan to work on improving the pension legislation; legal documents in the field of retraining and advanced training of workers, regional employment.

Speaking about protecting the personal interests of citizens, Mikhail Orda noted that the trade unions have significantly strengthened their work. It is about representing interests in courts. In the first half of the year alone, with the participation of trade unions, the courts considered 140 claims, and 84 of them were in favor of workers. With the support of trade union lawyers, 36 people were reinstated. People were returned about 2 million 500 thousand rubles, illegally withheld by the employers.

Injury - under personal responsibility

The trade unions have all the necessary resources for effective work in the field of labor protection, Mikhail Orda is sure. Trade union technical inspectors have been given a lot of powers: they are stipulated both in the corresponding agreement with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and in the new edition of the Law "On Labor Protection" (this document was developed with the participation of the FPB). In addition, the trade unions have established interaction with the General Prosecutor's Office.

- In this regard, I would like to emphasize: in matters of labor protection there should be personal, personal responsibility of each technical inspector for the area of ​​work entrusted to him, - said the chairman of the FPB and urged his colleagues to take seriously the information about trouble at any particular enterprise or in the region. He recalled that trade unions are authorized to issue instructions to employers for violation of the law, including for late payment of wages. In May, the Presidium of the Federation Council of Trade Unions adopted a resolution that establishes the personal responsibility of the leaders of all trade union organizations for failure to provide or provide incorrect information about the facts of non-payment of wages.

- We, like no one else, must know the situation in the industry, see the prospects for the development of enterprises and promptly raise questions with local authorities, branch ministries, - the leader of the national trade union center explained the position of the FPB.

Choice in elections

Touching upon the topic of the presidential elections, Mikhail Orda once again noted that the election campaign is taking place in a difficult environment.

- In fact, there is an information war. Constant stuffing and misinformation appear on Internet sites, in social networks, - said the chairman of the FPB. - This is a well-planned work based on well-known manuals and manuals, where absolutely every step is spelled out, the psychology of people is calculated, and specially created information resources are used. And about the objectivity of speech is no longer talking. Any problem is maximally replicated and inflated. The facts are distorted and distorted.

Mikhail Orda urged to treat the information extremely selectively and analyze it. In particular, he suggested recalling the times when Belarus was just beginning to be built as a state; about inflation, extremely low living standards and complete uncertainty.

- But we got out of this hole. And we did a lot to be on a par with successful countries in many respects, ”said the FPB chairman.

He also noted that Belarus is among the world leaders in the production of milk and meat:

- All this is the result of investments and the tremendous attention of the state to the development of agriculture.

Mikhail Orda also focused on the fact that the Belarusians managed not only to restore the work of the factories, but also to significantly increase their potential.

- The product line of our enterprises today includes tens of thousands of items - from microcircuits and heart valves to large mining dump trucks. And about 70% of the production is exported. Not to mention, we are practically the best at developing information technology. And despite the fact that our country is relatively small in geopolitical terms, we launched our own satellite. That is, they were included in the number of space powers. The dynamics of development is obvious, - stressed the chairman of the FPB.

According to the leader of the national trade union center, in this situation the most dangerous thing is to listen to the thesis that "everything must be destroyed in the bud, close down the town-forming enterprises and cut production at times." Mikhail Orda is sure that it is impossible to completely replace production with small business or the information technology sector, as some politicians suggest. In fact, this is a road to nowhere.

- We cannot risk the fate of workers and the country. We must protect our achievements, stability and security, - summed up the trade union leader. - Yes, today we still have a lot to do. Nobody says that we have already solved all the problems, built an absolutely efficient economy. But if we break everything we have achieved, we will return to the same chaos that was in the 90s. And our children will again have to work for decades to return to the level of today ... We live exclusively by our own labor. Our policy is still socially oriented. There are very few countries where social justice is at the head of all decisions. And I am deeply convinced that we can only develop the country further, move forward with our President. This man has always been with the people and took responsibility for everything that happens in the country. You and I, like no other organization, are interested in the stability and progressive development of our society. Only in this case can the interests of the working man be preserved.