A trade unions of miners is persecuted in Krivoy Rog

Many complications have appeared in the activities of trade unions owing to the new corrections to the law of Ukraine ‘On trade unions, their rights and guarantees of their activities’. One of the victims became the mine named after Orjonikidze. On 26 April the trade union of this mine held a consecutive portback election conference. This trade union, like the majority of trade unions in Krivbass, started its activities simultaneously with the first steps of independent Ukraine. However, the administrative pressure practically upon all members of independent trade unions has never stopped. This time the administrative organs jointly with dependent from the local administration trade union of metallurgists and miners decided to make use of the vague formulations of the law in order to finish the existence of the trade union, which dared to return privileges that miners had, such as auxiliary days of leaves for harmful conditions of work. These actions were provoked by Order No. 569 of V. P. Movchan, the general director of the central ore mining and processing en-terprise. Even if the trade union violated some legal norms, then its lot had to be decided according to Article 18 of the law ‘On trade unions, their rights and guarantees of their activities’, which is titled ‘Suspension of activities of trade unions and their associations’. This article stipulates the following procedure: the activities of trade unions or their associations that violate the Constitution and Ukrainian laws may be forbidden by the decision of a court. Any other decision to disband a trade union or prohibit its activities by any other organs has no legal force. The appeal of the head of the disbanded trade union M. Kindrat and heads of a number of other trade unions addressed to the administration and law-enforcing bodies had no effect.