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Trade unions in Eastern European and Central Asian countries withstood the shocks of transition in the early 1990s, with most emerging intact but with significantly reduced membership. This attrition was due in large part to the growth of large sectors of informal employment, where workers are not organized, but also due to change in the role of trade unions in new order. In more recent years, some trade unions in the CIS have rebounded, regaining a portion of the lost membership and increasing their influence, while others continue to suffer from membership attrition.
In the current era, trade unions face several common challenges. First and foremost is the need to develop agendas that address the problems that workers face and the issues that concern them in the current environment, and, in their way, to attract new members. In most CIS countries, half to three fourths of the work force is not organized. This limits unions’ resources and reduces their capacity to influence working conditions and to speak with authority on workplace issues.
Second, trade unions in some countries face restrictions on freedom of association, collective bargaining, and other fundamental rights.
Third, many organizations have not changed their structures since the Soviet times. Some organizations need reforms that make management more directly accountable to members. On the financial side, some unions are still impeded by decisions made by the Soviet trade unions in their final days, namely, to collect and retain the far largest portion of member dues at the local/enterprise level. This deprives the leadership of resources needed to be active on national issues, as well as making them dependent on non-membership related incomes.
Fourth, trade union leaders need to develop their technical expertise to enable them to perform more effectively as the governments’ social partners in national tripartite policy making, as well as to meet the new challenges of dealing with national and multinational private employers.
ILO Moscow is working closely with trade unions to help address these issues. Our main messages are that government’s respect for fundamental workers’ rights is an essential first step in creating and strengthening free and independent trade unions that truly represent workers’ interests. We also hold that internal reforms are key to attracting new members and representing their interests effectively, and cooperation among unions is a practical necessity in making workers’ voices heard. We support the development of new services aimed at attracting and mobilizing members. We support research and awareness raising activities by trade unions that are attempting to organize the informal sector and employees in the new multinational firms operating in the region. We provide models of good practice for management and organizational reforms.
In assisting leaders to develop greater expertise on national policy issues, we place a heavy focus on
- strengthening collective bargaining capacity, specifically the expertise in modern wage systems,
- full involvement of trade unions as workers representatives in formulating and implementing national policies in occupational safety and health, social protection and employment.
We seek to make the trade unions’ focus and activity fully sustainable and not dependant on external assistance.
Our general approach is to encourage trade unions to develop their own internal expertise on these issues in order to become equal partners in social dialogue with employers and governments.
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