On October 12, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favor of the bill on the safety and health of employees at work as a whole. The document is intended to regulate occupational safety issues in line with European approaches. At the same time, the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine emphasizes the need to further refine the adopted version so that the new rules do not result in the narrowing of labor rights and guarantees.
The FPU explained that, during the preparation of the document in 2024–2025, a tripartite working group involving representatives of trade unions, employers, and the state worked on it. However, the law was ultimately adopted in the 2023 version, without taking into account the proposals developed during subsequent discussions. In the view of the trade union side, this creates risks for workers’ rights, particularly for those working in difficult, harmful, and dangerous conditions.
That is why the trade unions, as part of the Joint Representative Body, which brings together all representative associations of trade unions in Ukraine, appealed to the President of Ukraine, calling on him to veto the law and return it for further refinement. At the same time, the FPU emphasizes the importance of high-quality modernization of legislation in the field of occupational safety and stresses its readiness to participate in further work on amendments that will make it possible to take European approaches into account while preserving an adequate level of worker protection.
UNN spoke with Vasyl Andreiev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, about the trade unions’ concerns, the necessary amendments to the document, and the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine’s next steps.
What are the main risks that trade unions see in the adopted version of draft law No. 10147?
First and foremost, it is the threat of abolishing the right to early retirement for workers who have spent decades working in difficult, harmful, and dangerous conditions. This includes, in particular, people who work near metallurgical furnaces, underground, in electricity generation, and at chemical and oil and gas enterprises.
The so-called Lists No. 1 and No. 2 of industries, occupations, and types of work that grant the right to a preferential pension are critically important for workers who have suffered damage to their health as a result of prolonged employment in harmful and dangerous jobs. They earned the right to a preferential pension by giving years of their lives to their employer under poor working conditions. Now the employer must compensate the Pension Fund for the additional costs of early pensions.
This is highly significant for millions of people who, according to official statistics, work in conditions that do not meet state sanitary and hygienic standards.
What other labor guarantees could be at risk if the law enters into force?
In addition to early pensions, to which a clearly defined category of workers whose workplaces have been certified by the relevant commissions is entitled, legislation provides people working in harmful conditions with other measures to reduce the negative impact on their health. These include shorter working days and weeks, additional hygienic breaks, and therapeutic and preventive nutrition, which helps reduce the negative effects of harmful substances on workers’ bodies.
Such guarantees are provided by the employer, but their inclusion in the law is critically necessary for practical implementation. Workers also have the right to additional leave for longer rest after working in harmful conditions and to additional remuneration paid on top of the basic rate or official salary.
Why is preserving independent trade union oversight important for worker safety?
A major challenge for trade unions in protecting their members’ rights to safe and healthy working conditions is the erosion, under the adopted law, of the right to public oversight and to trade unions’ representation of their members before the employer.
Thousands of inspections at the enterprise level make it possible to identify problems in the organization of occupational safety before an accident occurs. Such commissions, committees, or individual occupational safety representatives should have rights and duties defined by law. Without proper powers, eliminating hazards will be very difficult, since one of the most effective ways to identify them is risk assessment independent of the employer. Trade unions, in particular, can ensure such independence.
What actions do trade unions expect from the president, and what will they do if the law is signed?
The range of problems with the new law is not limited to the challenges outlined above. Uncertainty about the future regulation of occupational safety and employees’ health in the workplace has caused great concern among trade unions. It has reached such a level that some sectoral trade unions decided to hold an information picket calling on the president to veto Law No. 10147. The action is scheduled for October 29.
The Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine has also sent the Office of the President of Ukraine a proposal to meet with representatives of trade unions at the national level. The purpose of the meeting is to explain the trade union side’s position on the law, its content, and the rights and guarantees that it eliminates or may dilute during practical application in workplaces.
We expect the Office of the President of Ukraine to receive a representative group of leaders of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine in the coming days.
The Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine is already working on developing amendments and additions to the adopted law, even if the president of Ukraine ultimately signs it. The law genuinely requires changes that will strengthen the system for eliminating risks in workplaces, give employees a clear understanding of their rights and guarantees, and protect people who work in arduous, harmful, and hazardous conditions and have spent decades accumulating the service record required for early retirement.