“With one letter [our employer] sent us away, and our dialogue turned into a monologue,” says Anton Gorb, a trade union representative at Ukraine’s largest private postal service, New Post. […]
In March, the Ukrainian parliament passed wartime legislation that severely curtailed the ability of trade unions to represent their members, introduced ‘suspension of employment’ (meaning employees are not fired, but their work and wages are suspended) and gave employers the right to unilaterally suspend collective agreements.
But beyond this temporary measure, a group of Ukrainian MPs and officials are now aiming to further ‘liberalise’ and ‘de-Sovietise’ the country’s labour laws. Under a draft law, people who work in small and medium-sized firms – those which have up to 250 employees – would, in effect, be removed from the country’s existing labour laws and covered by individual contracts negotiated with their employer. More than 70% of the Ukrainian workforce would be affected by this change.
Against a background of concerns that Ukrainian officials are using Russia’s invasion to push through a long-awaited radical deregulation of labour laws, one expert has warned that the introduction of civil law into labour relations risks opening a “Pandora’s box” for workers. […]
But in April, under Ukraine’s wartime suspension of certain labour rights – which was billed as ‘temporary’ – New Post’s management revoked 30 points of the collective agreement with the trade union.
Most of these points relate to coordination of working conditions with trade unions, but also some social guarantees, such as providing workers with uniforms, the availability of a first-aid kit at the workplace, working hours and others. […]
“De facto, this regime assumes that literally anything can be entered into an employee’s employment contract, without reference to Ukrainian labour laws. For example, additional grounds for dismissal, liability, or even a 100-hour week,” explains Sandul.
Ukrainian workers had previously protested against the introduction of this law, but as protests have now been banned by the Ukrainian government (using wartime emergency powers) it’s unlikely they’ll be able to stop it going through.
i just think that the double standard with how everyone (and i’m not just talking ab the west btw) has treated the ukraine invasion vs issues literally anywhere else is insane. and no i’m not just talking about the straight up racist journalists (although that was also . whew ! shocked but not surprised) but rather how it seems that this time around, everyoneseems to understand that you can’t ‘separate business / art from politics’. remember when a muslim soccer player spoke up against the atrocities that the chinese government perpetuates against the uyghur muslims and then arsenal terminated his contract because they are 'apolitical as an organization’? and yet manchester united players standing up for ukraine have been applauded for it. remember when iceland held up the palestine flag during eurovision as a show of solidarity and they were fined 5000 euros for it? and yet russia is banned from this year’s contest.
and i know white people are going to misunderstand this on purpose, so i’m just stating this upfront: i completely support ukraine, and i think it’s important that russia is shown, on a world platform, that they cannot get away with the invasion of a sovereign state. but the fact that suddenly, mixing politics with sport, business and art has become the new normal and socially acceptable because it’s europeandthe west and not filthy violent brown people is just too ironic for me to not point out. and btw if anyone starts talking about the 'oppression olympics’ or wtv to discredit the very real differences between the treatment of white & brown people on a global level and the dehumanization of asians i will smash your head into a brick wall.
