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Global unions meet Belarusian opposition leader

11 March, 2021Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the former presidential candidate in the Belarus elections of 2020 and the main opposition figure, met with representatives of global labour unions in Geneva today, in person and via Zoom.

The meeting addressed the appalling situation in Belarus after the presidential elections of August 2020 and the consequent repression of peaceful protests against the contested results.

Opening the meeting, IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Valter Sanches spoke of the global labour movement’s commitment to supporting democracy in Belarus. Workers’ fundamental rights are violated. Independent unions and their leaders and activists are subject to repression, in breach of the international labour standards and norms which Belarus has ratified.

He said that global unions had compiled a list of companies doing business in Belarus, and are working with the affiliates who have relationships with these companies to urge them to conduct due diligence regarding their activities in Belarus.

Companies doing business in Belarus must ensure that they:

  • Do not threaten, persecute, harass, discipline, penalize or otherwise disadvantage any worker who is taking strike, industrial or other protest action aimed at ensuring democracy and the observance of human rights in Belarus;
  • Do not prevent workers from exercising their human right to freedom of association by joining an independent trade union, or take any action against such unions.

Ms Tsikhanouskaya thanked the labour movement for its support, and said that the meeting was important to discuss concrete steps for bringing about democracy in Belarus. She said that it is crucial to support strike committees and free and independent unions.

She explained that the humanitarian crisis in Belarus has escalated and reached a formidable scale: since August, at least six people have been killed during protests and over 33,000 have been detained. Many report torture during detention, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights receiving 4,644 complaints of physical force by security forces, and at least 500 cases of torture.

IndustriALL president Jörg Hofmann said that IndustriALL had followed development is Belarus closely and with great concern. The executive committee passed a solidarity declaration with the independent unions of Belarus at its meeting in November 2020. IndustriALL consulted with its affiliates in Belarus about the possibility of meeting Ms Tsikhanouskaya, and they welcomed the opportunity.

Sue Longley, of the food workers’ international IUF, spoke about courage and resilience amid repression. Three hundred people have been sentenced to more than a year in prison, including three members of affiliate BITU.

Owen Tudor of the ITUC said, “We represent more than 200 million workers around the world, members of free and independent unions, who want to see democracy in Belarus.”

In a statement released to the press, the global labour movement pledged to cooperate with independent representatives of Belarusian society, including the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to establish trade union rights and freedoms in Belarus. This must include the fundamental right to freedom of association, and the right to organize union activities independently and without interference or pressure from governmental bodies or employers.

Speaking about the role of trade unions, a spokesperson for the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said:

“We had two huge strike waves that were an experiment for us: people hadn’t been on strike in the thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and had to learn how to do it again. The strikes grew massively, until company managers said that it is illegal to strike for political reasons. This took some of the momentum away.

“We need to prepare Belarus for democratic transformation. We need people to know that that striking is a human right, and build the institutions to support it. Workers are the driving force of this revolution. Lukashenko is losing control and will not last long. We need to speed up the process of removing him, before he does more damage and hurts more people.”