New law draft diminishes union guarantees

On April 19 Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee On Social Policy and Protecting Veteran`s Rights Halyna Tretyakova registered the law draft №9200-1 “On excluding the article 118 of the Labor Code of Ukraine”.

The current art.118 of the Labor Code establishes certain guarantees for elected union officials as well as for people elected to governmental bodies. It says that after termination of their mandate for an elected position the person has the right to come back to their previous job or receive the equivalent position in the same enterprise/organization.

The draft law aims to cancel these regulations.

The law draft itself is dangerous for union representatives because it deprives them of one of the most important guarantees they have. The draft also contradicts the ILO Workers’ Representatives Recommendation №143 which says that: “Persons who, upon termination of their mandate as workers’ representatives in the undertaking in which they have been employed, resume work in that undertaking should retain, or have restored, all their rights, including those related to the nature of their job, to wages and to seniority”.