Whose interests is Ukraine’ s trade union federation defending?

A violent debate over the traditional batch of questions (report on work accomplished, approval of the action program for the years to come and manpower problems) was held at the IV Congress of the Ukrainian Trade Union Federation that ended on November 21. Most disagreements were connected with the leaders’ party membership. For instance, while making a speech from the Congress’ rostrum, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn expressed his serious concern with cases where some politicians use trade unions as “a battering ram in their struggle against those in power.” This is evidenced in a variety of ways, while concrete achievements (for example, solving the problems of miners, medical personnel, teaching employees, etc.) are illustrated by isolated instances. The trade unions themselves plead not to have the right of legislative initiative. From that standpoint the deputy mandate of federation leader Oleksandr Stoyan (who is known to have entered Verkhovna Rada on the Nasha Ukrayina list) should seem to be his trump. Meanwhile, many federation members are not at all delighted with Oleksandr Stoyan’s being a deputy and trade union leader simultaneously. Mr. Stoyan himself believes the discontent expressed by the colleagues at his combining offices to be groundless and to hold no promise. As for his only rival in the struggle for the federation leadership Valentyn Pozhydayev, Stoyan estimated the latter’s chance when comparing with his own one as thirty to seventy. Nevertheless, the poll conducted by The Day’s correspondent showed that out of nine federation members interviewed only one sees nothing objectionable in the fact that the current trade union organization’s leader is politically engaged. Still, most of those questioned thought the people’s deputy to have a fair chance to remain at the helm.

At press time, the ultimate result of the struggle for leadership in one of the most powerful trade union organizations in the country. In any case, the very system of relations between the trade unions and politicians arouses much more concern than the political color of the leadership (incidentally, Stoyan himself, despite his outwardly good relationship with the Our Ukraine leader, has called himself a non- block deputy). Everyone, from the president to rank-and-file members of trade union movement, is speaking of inadmissibility of politicizing the trade unions. Last week, while commenting on the situation in the federation, President Kuchma noted, “My attitude remains the same: we cannot allow the trade unions to become politicized.” When they support only one political force, “they are not trade unions any more,” he believes. Indeed, no one is contesting trade unions’ right to defend their concern on legislative level (though in the simplest way possible for the realities of Ukraine, i.e., through lobbying their interests with the help of certain people’s deputies and political forces that had received support from the trade unions during the election). But fulfilling the interests of the trade union leadership and those of the rank-and-file members are horses of a different color. Taking into account the fact that the federation has a wide system of primary and regional organizations, leadership of this organization is a serious resource.