On 1-3 October 2024, an international conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Lithuanian trade union Solidarumas on „Trade Unions Promoting Migrant Workers rights and interests through improved representation and integration into the labour movement ” was held in Vilnius, Lithuania. Taking part in the conference were representatives of trade unions from Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Armenia. The conference was also attended by ILO experts and representatives of the Lithuanian Migration Department and the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour.
The conference was welcomed and moderated by Ms Kristina Krupavičienė, President of the Lithuanian trade union Solidarumas and Mr Sergejus Glovackas, Head of Europe and Central Asia Department of the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV/ILO).
The conference participants talked about the situation of labour migration in their respective countries, discussing the problems and solutions.
The Tajik representative shed light on the situation in Tajikistan. He said that in three decades the country’s population had grown from 3.5 million to 10 million. Such rapid growth of population explains the lack of jobs in a country devastated by civil war. Many Tajiks have left the country seeking employment abroad, mainly in Russia. However, following the terrorist attack on the Moscow-area Crocus concert venue, which involved Islamic terrorists from Tajikistan, Russia started harassing Tajik workers and obstructing their access to employment. As a result, Tajik workers are seeking employment in other countries. However, restrictions are imposed on Tajik workers before they go abroad to work. The example of medical doctors can be given to illustrate the point. It is obvious that training doctors is very expensive for the state. Due to the shortage of medical doctors in the country, graduates of medicine must work for three years in Tajikistan before they are granted a medical diploma. In this respect, the system in Tajikistan is different from that in Lithuania.
Uzbekistan, which has a similar demographic situation, even „exports” its nurses to England and Germany at the state level. There are cooperation agreements in place to send 100,000 nurses to England for English language training and 40,000 nurses to Germany for German language training.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan, enjoying a better standard of life, has a quota for foreign workers of 0.23% of the country’s total workforce, but the country struggles to cope with illegal or undeclared work from neighbouring countries due to the lack of border controls between the countries.
Armenia had to take in 115,000 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh after the war with Azerbaijan. However, social networks abound in offers to illegally employ workers from India.
Ukraine has suffered huge population losses as a result of Russian aggression. About 7 million Ukrainians have fled abroad as a result of the war, and about 3 million to the western regions of Ukraine. Russia destroyed most of the power stations and many factories, and seized 27% of the country’s territory, resulting in the loss of 5 million jobs and replacing the pre-war figure of 15 million. Currently, 12 million workers are employed in Ukraine. The unemployment rate has increased to its highest level since the outbreak of the war. Furthermore, workers experience the impact of delays in wage payments. Such a situation encourages workers to join trade unions. As a result, union membership is growing.
The Ukrainian representatives called on the participants from Central Asia attending the conference to cease all cooperation with Russian trade unions that openly support Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Belarusian trade unionists, recently released from prison, said that the repression of the undemocratic government has led to the departure of some 700,000 Belarusian citizens, most of them moving to Poland. Moreover, independent trade unions were banned, and people were imprisoned for merely giving likes to each other on social networks. The Belorussian participants called on the participants from Central Asia to stand in solidarity and stop cooperating with the pro-government Belarusian trade unions, as such cooperation encourages the government to continue persecuting workers’ representatives.
Ms Evelina Gudzinskaitė, Director of the Migration Department, revealed that currently there are about 222,000 foreigners living in Lithuania, about 115,000 of whom are employed. Most of them are war refugees from Ukraine. However, even though they are mostly women, children and pensioners, about half of the 70,000 arrivals are working.
The second largest group is comprised of immigrants from Belarus. However, only 2,000 of them are political refugees, while the remaining 60,000 are labour migrants. As people who threaten our country’s national security are also being sent to Lithuania under the guise of workers, restrictions on the number of Belarusian workers have been introduced. Presently, they are being increasingly replaced by workers from Central Asia, whose number in Lithuania has increased tenfold.
Mr Ričardas Garuolis, Vice-Chairman of the Lithuanian trade union Solidarumas, and Ms Daiva Kvedaraitė, Secretary General of the trade union Solidarumas, revealed the dangers of social dumping for local workers, as employers find it more profitable to hire not local workers, but rather „cheaper” foreigners, who, unaware of their rights, accept precarious jobs. As a result, they are poorly paid, feel unprotected, and insecure, Their working conditions are inferior to a “regular” job.
Mr Stanislavas Fedaravičius, Chairman of the Labour Inspectorate of the Lithuanian trade union Solidarumas, and Mr Gintaras Čiužas, Chairman of the Baltic Transport Trade Union Solidarumas, talked about the way Lithuanian employers cheat foreign workers who do not speak the official language and do not know the country’s laws. In order to avoid being cheated and to receive their full wages, foreigners should join a trade union. Both speakers urged trade unions to work more closely together and to inform their members about the need to look for a trade union as soon as they arrive in Lithuania.
Mr Kirill Buketov of the Food Workers’ Union (IUF) explained how European trade unions protect foreign workers from exploitation and prevent social dumping by allowing them to join their trade unions.
To date, not all countries allow foreign workers to join a trade union.
Mr Victor Hugo Ricco, an ILO lawyer, presented the main ILO conventions that guarantee the rights of workers and migrants. He provided information about the ratification of ILO Conventions, namely, in which countries specific Conventions have been ratified and how they change the laws governing labour relations. He also urged the participating trade unionists to pressure their respective governments to ratify them.
However, he noted that even after ratification of the ILO Conventions, it is necessary to seek to amend national laws to comply with the Conventions. The process of adapting a country’s laws to a ratified convention often takes a long time, and the ILO has little power to influence the countries that have ratified them.
The most severe penalty for breaking ratified treaties is expulsion from the ILO. However, this is also a long process. So far, Myanmar (Burma) has been expelled from the ILO and Belarus is in the process of being expelled.
Therefore, the ILO lawyer urged trade unionists not to wait for help from the ILO, but to step up their own efforts to lobby their governments to protect workers’ rights.
The foreign guests visited the headquarters of the Lithuanian trade union Solidarumas and the Seimas. See here and here.