Independent Trade Union ‘Zakhyst Pratsi’
45, Chervonoarmiyska str. off. 115, Kyiv, 03150
+380442843721; +380503587148
Claim against JSC ‘Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company’
(ПрАТ ‘Українське Дунайське Пароплавство’)
In April 2013, ‘Zakhyst Pratsi’ Union’s coordinator in Odessa region, Andrei Ischenko, have received multiple calls from the workers of ‘Izmail Servicing Station of Technical Ship Service Centre of the JSC "Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company" (Ізмаїльська База Комплексного Обслуговування Флоту ПрАТ ‘УДП’). The workers were seeking help and legal assistance in order to return their unpaid salary for the last several months and complained about the inhumane conditions of work breaching all existing health and safety requirements. After the union organizers’ visits to the workplace and multiple meetings with the collective, we have verified the information that workers are not being paid since September 2012 (for more than 7 months already) and health and safety requirements are not being followed by the administration. In particular, in winter the workplace premises are unheated, basic hygiene standards and safety are not met – there is no warm water, workplace instructions are nonexistent, workers are not getting obligatory uniform for physical work and are not even provided with milk for working in harmful conditions.
. The right to safe working conditions are guaranteed by paragraph 2 of Article 2 and the 163rd article of the Labour Code of Ukraine, as well as Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine "On Labour Protection". Moreover, the non-payment of salaries for more than one month is a criminal offence according to the Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Nonetheless, the state institutions are not taking any appropriate measures to ensure the respect of the rights of its citizens. The management of the enterprise is unable to give any concrete reply to the collective on when the salaries will be paid and if they will ever be paid at all.
Given the severe human rights breaches at this enterprise, the general meeting of personnel of the enterprise held on April 26th has decided that in case of non-payment of salary for the last 7 months prior to May 1, 2013, and absence of response from the management, starting from May 7 they will start an industrial action in the form of an "Italian strike" (Work-to-rule). "Italian strike" is a form of protest in which the employees of the company very strictly perform all job descriptions and rules, thereby slowing and blocking the workflow, being a form of protest which can not be recognized by the court as illegal. Work stoppage due to the unfulfilled health and safety requirements was used in this case. The workers stopped performing their duties demanding the necessary uniforms for their job tasks.
Instead of establishing a dialogue with protesting workers, the CEO of the UDP - Alexander Dolgov has threatened collective with the Article 111 of Labor Code, which states that in case of non-fulfillment of output quotas may result in payroll cuts. Ignoring the absence of adequate work conditions and non-payment of 7 months salary, Mr. Dolgov has threatened and intimidated protesting workers promising to sack them as soon as finds a reason to.
On Monday, 13th May the workers of UDP with support of ‘Zakhyst Pratsi’ organizers have staged a picket outside the UDP main office during their lunch break (in order to be back at work right after the lunch, as they should strictly follow all procedures when on an Italian Strike). Mr. Dolgov has visited the picket line blaming ‘the crisis in Europe’ for the unpaid salaries and not offering any form of dialogue or any ways to meet the workers’ rights.
Please find more information about the conflict here (RUS only):