The Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on the safety of employees at work; however, the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine says that the final version of the document essentially reproduces a draft prepared back in 2023. The FPU emphasizes that its proposals on protecting labor rights and employee safety, which it had worked on for several years, were not taken into account. The trade unions are now asking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to veto the law and return it to parliament for revision, UNN reports.
Details
On October 12, the Verkhovna Rada adopted at second reading Draft Law No. 10147, "On the Safety and Health of Employees at Work."
However, Serhii Byzov, head of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, reported that the draft law passed by parliament contains provisions that could weaken employee protection. According to him, this concerns risks to safety in the workplace, compensation for victims, and social guarantees for people working in difficult and hazardous conditions. At the same time, he emphasized that the Federation supports occupational safety reform and the introduction of European standards. However, according to Serhii Byzov, modernization of legislation should not come at the expense of narrowing employees’ rights.
On October 19, the Joint Representative Body of Trade Union Associations appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, asking him to veto the law.
As the Joint Representative Body of Trade Union Associations notes in its appeal to the head of state, work on Draft Law No. 10147 lasted more than seven years. In particular, a tripartite working group worked for eight months under the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada and reviewed more than a thousand amendments. At the same time, the trade unions claim that the text adopted by parliament does not reflect the results of this work.
The vote on Draft Law No. 10147 nullified the results of the work of the tripartite working group, which reviewed more than 1,000 amendments by the people's deputies of Ukraine to the second reading of the draft law, and approved a version of the Law on the Safety and Health of Employees that was uncoordinated in many provisions, even illogically structured, and contradictory; it is almost identical to the version of the draft law adopted at first reading in October 2023, beginning with the first articles defining concepts and terms and ending with the final provisions on the amount of sanctions for violations of occupational safety and health requirements and on amendments to other legislative acts
The FPU believes that certain provisions of the law could narrow existing labor guarantees and weaken mechanisms for protecting employees. Among the key concerns are compensation for work in hazardous conditions, preservation of average earnings in the event of refusal to perform dangerous work, guarantees for employees following occupational injuries and diseases, as well as the powers of trade unions to exercise public oversight over compliance with occupational safety requirements.
The trade unions also emphasize that the draft law was not agreed upon with representative associations of trade unions and employers at the national level. In their view, this contradicts the principles of social dialogue that should accompany decision-making in the labor sphere.
The text of the law has now been signed by the chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada and sent to the president for signature.
Recall
The Federation of Trade Unions’ reservations regarding certain provisions of the law "On the Safety and Health of Employees at Work" were also supported by the inter-factional parliamentary association "Trade Unions of Ukraine." People's Deputy and head of the association Andrii Klochko stated that the law is not perfect, as it could narrow social guarantees for employees working in difficult and hazardous conditions. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of the document’s European integration objective and the need for further dialogue on improving it.