UNIONS have hit back at a draft new labour law being considered in the Ukrainian parliament that would give employers more power and strip away existing workers’ rights.

The Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) says the provisions go against both the Ukrainian constitution and international labour standards.   

IndustriALL, the global union body which represents about 50 million manufacturing workers in 140 countries, says the lockout provisions contained within the proposals legitimises the rights of employers to initiate lockouts — a mass denial of employment by employers of workers during a strike — and to wipe out all gains made. 

The law would also give employers the right to compensation if there was any damage to property during a strike. Damage would also mean the strike could be labelled illegal by the courts.

The number of employees allowed to strike would also be limited to no more than three or five people. 

KVPU has called on parliament to reverse course and to drop the plans. 

Isabelle Barthes, the acting joint general secretary of IndustriALL Europe, said: “We stand with our Ukrainian colleagues and will continue to alert the EU to attempts to weaken workers’ rights.”

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Hoie said: “The right to strike is regulated by International Labour Organisation convention 87 on freedom of association and the protection of the right to organise.

“At the national level, the right to strike is enshrined in the Ukrainian constitution under article 44.

“Considering that the lockout provisions are in violation of the constitution and international labour standards, IndustriALL calls for the exclusion of these provisions, impressing they violate workers’ rights,” he said. 

IndustriALL has also called on the UN’s International Labour Organisation to intervene with the Ukrainian government to remove the lockout provisions from the draft law.