Democratic trade unions not invited to elaboration of general agreement with government

The Congress of the democratic trade unions hasn’t been informed so far about the work on the General Agreement between the government, employer associations and trade unions.

Yezhednevnik learnt this from Aliaksandr Yarashuk, the Chairperson of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU).

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection has recently spread information saying the General Agreement for 2011–2013 between the Belarusian government, the republican employer associations and trade unions is being prepared. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection takes direct part in this process.

According to Aliaksandr Yarashuk, the BCDTU is also a party in the agreement. The BCDTU gave its proposals at a session of the National Council on labor and social issues in January concerning composition of the working groups on preparation of the general agreement. However, the question of preparation of the document hasn’t been raised in negotiations with the BCDTU. ‘We haven’t been invited to take part in the agreement preparation yet,” Yarashuk says. The trade union leader reminded that independent trade unions had taken active part in working out the similar acting document and expressed a hope it would be possible to contribute to the preparation of the General Agreement for 2011–2013.