Below is an English translation of the statement released yesterday, July 30, by the French  Fédération Sindicale Unitaire, the main trade union in the education sector in France and the largest trade union in the public sector, calling on Ukraine's president Zelenskyy not to ratify anti-workers Laws 5161 and 5371.

The French original can be found here: https://fsu.fr/contre-la-casse-du-droit-du-travail-en-ukraine/

"By the end of 2019 in Ukraine, responding to the demands of employers and the interests of multinational companies, an ultraliberal reform of the Labour Code had been launched. It denounced fundamental guarantees for workers (almost half of the ILO conventions that the country had previously ratified). The mobilisation of Ukrainian workers and their trade unions brought down this offensive, supported by the solidarity of the European and international trade union movement (ITUC, ETUC).

"Today, the war situation that the people are experiencing should be a reason to seek dialogue with the Ukrainian trade union organisations that are participating in the courageous resistance of their country to the Russian invasion. In contrast to this objective, the authorities intend to take advantage of martial law to destroy the Labour Code through a succession of laws. The latest text adopted on 19 July in the Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament), Law 5371, is strongly criticised by Ukraine's trade unions (as well as Law 5161 introducing "zero hours contracts"). Law 5371 has not yet been signed by the President. If implemented, it would mean the effective abolition of most of the rights protecting three quarters of the workers in Ukraine (who are employed in enterprises with less than 250 employees).

The FSU fully supports the Ukrainian workers, the KVPU and the KPU. It calls on the Ukrainian authorities not to implement and withdraw this legislation, which jeopardises the fundamental rights of workers.

Paris, 30 July 2022