[fse-esf] Labour solidarity for Ukraine!! We need informational support!!!

Mon Dec 17 10:03:57 CET 2007

  Dismissal of labour leader Vladimir Demyan: Fight for Trade Union Rights in MNEs Just Started

  On 12 December 2007 Vladimir Demyan, a labour leader and the chairperson of a primary organization of the “Protection of  Labour [Zaschita Truda]” Kiev independent union (www.zpworkres.narod.ru), technician for electrical installations at the Commercial Centre #16 of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” (part of the “METRO Group” multinational holding company headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany) was unlawfully dismissed in Kiev by virtue of Order #902-k. From the very outset the management of the Ukrainian branch of this multinational has given a hostile reception to the fact that on 19 February 2007 an independent trade union local of “Protection of Labour” was formed within its network. Within a short period, Vladimir Demyan, a recognized labour leader, was able to unite a number of labour activists under the umbrella of a trade union local of the “Protection of Labour” union at the enterprise and started the struggle for improvement of working conditions for all workers
 of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” scattered around the sales areas of a number of Ukraine’s regional centres. 

  Demonstrating a very touching international anti-union solidarity, Axel Hluchy, a German and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine”, Mikhail Zavylov, a Ukrainian and the HR Director of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry”, and Peter Troyan, a Slovak and the Director of Commercial Centre #16 of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry”, have chosen Vladimir Demyan, an electrician and the leader of the independent union, to be the main target of their attack.

  On 27 September 2007 Mikhail Zavylov made his first straightforward attempt to dismiss Vladimir Demyan. In his address (Ref. #1877) to Oleg Vernik, President of the Central Committee of “Protection of Labour” union in Kiev, aimed at getting a formal consent to dismiss Vladimir Demyan, Mr. Zavylov decided not to overburden himself with particular legal justification of his desire to immediately dismiss the trade union leader. Enclosed with this Address were three so-called “reprimands” issued to Demyan that were of absolutely no legal effect, as, in accordance with Article 41 of the Law of Ukraine “On Trade Unions, Their Rights and Guarantees of Activity”, “bringing workers who are members of elected trade union bodies to disciplinary account shall only be allowed with prior consent of the elected body they are members of”. Obviously, the post factum “reprimands” issued hastily to Vladimir Demyan had not been earlier considered by the trade union committee of “Protection
 of Labour”. Besides, Mr. Zavylov blatantly disregarded the provisions of Article 149 of the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine, which clearly stipulates that “only one disciplinary measure may be applied for each violation of labour discipline”. Even if we proceed from Zavylov’s fakes containing post factum “reprimands” given to Vladimir Demyan, a reprimand as such already is a disciplinary measure, and any dismissal based on the same grounds with reprimands already given shall therefore be found illegal. In the situation of complete lawlessness on the part of the management of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” towards Vladimir Demyan, the “Protection of Labour” union leader at the enterprise, on 14 October 2007 the Central Committee of the “Protection of Labour” independent trade union in Kiev gave a flat refusal to Zavylov asking for the union consent to dismiss its leader (Ref. #4-Ï/14.10.2007).

  In its fight against the labour leader and his trade union colleagues the management of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” used different methods and techniques – from physical pressure to attempts of cynical defamation of character. 

  Having failed in the provocation targeted against Yuri Kuba, a young worker employed as fish chopper in the fish section and a “Protection of Labour” member (http://www.livasprava.in.ua/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=157&Itemid=1), on 11 October 2007 Yuri Vostrikov, Head of the Paramilitary Security Service of Commercial Centre #16 of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” and former commando officer, rushed into the recreation premises for enterprise employees and, with numerous witnesses around, was threatening Vladimir Demyan with physical violence. It was only the interference of police officers sent for by Vladimir in order to protect his life that averted tragedy to break out on that October day. The imminence of a criminal case to be launched by the District Prosecutor’s Office against the head of security service of a Kiev structural unit of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” who had lost sense of reality and become a public threat, forced Axel Hluchy and
 Mikhail Zavylov to transfer Vostrikov to another commercial centre of the MNE and then to dismiss him. Video surveillance of Vladimir Demyan’s actions on the territory of the commercial centre has become common practice; he was also regularly followed by one or two security guards when moving around the commercial centre. At the same time, serious pressure has been exerted on the employees of Commercial Centre #16 to prevent the young trade union from growing. The management is now collecting “memoranda” from its employees with the only objective of discredit Vladimir.

  For instance, being fully aware of the danger of international trade union solidarity within the UNI network, Mikhail Zavylov, following a blessing of Axel Hluchy and the headquarters of the METRO Group holding in Dusseldorf, initiated an international campaign aimed at discrediting Vladimir Demyan and from the very outset relying on the ethics and psychology of the tolerant and politically correct trade unionist in the West. 

  Thus, for example, Peter Troyan, Director of Commercial Centre #16 of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine”, in his memo addressed to Axel Hluchy, his immediate superior, and bearing neither a date, nor any reference details, suggests a rather original interpretation of the statement made by Vladimir Demyan who said that the management of the enterprise was gradually introducing fascist order in relations with its employees. According to Troyan’s interpretation made for Hluchy, Demyan considers “all Germans to be fascists”, at the same time allegedly suggesting that Troyan himself should get out of Ukraine and back to Slovakia. It is obvious that this fake, issued in English, was in fact aimed at forming a negative image of Vladimir Demyan exactly among trade union activists in Western Europe and in the unions at the METRO Group holding in particular, in order to avoid any potential international campaign of solidarity with the active labour union in Kiev in case of further
 retaliation. 

  The management was also able to get Asan Kurbanov, a young worker employed as a boner and a Crimean Tartar by ethnic origin, involved in this campaign of discrediting Vladimir Demyan internationally. Having pressed on the former and having promised that he would soon be transferred to a OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” branch in the Crimea, Peter Troyan prepared yet another fake – the so-called “memorandum” submitted by Asan Kurbanov to his immediate superior accusing Vladimir Demyan of regularly offending his Crimean Tartar national dignity. Naturally, to make the international discrediting campaign more effective, the “xenophobia” of the trade union leader should have been accompanied by “sexism”. Another fake was not too long to be waited for. Yulia Yanchevskaya, a manager of the HR Department and a direct subordinate of Mikhail Zavylov, HR Director of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine”, unexpectedly issued a “memorandum” addressed to her immediate superior and, of
 course, bearing no date or registration number, claiming that Vladimir Demyan regularly insulted her female dignity. It is yet to be understood how Mr. Hluchy, Mr. Zavylov and Mr. Troyan, having received such a bunch of memos on “xenophobia” and “sexism” on the part of the trade union leader, were unable to complete this set of politically correct fakes with one accusing Vladimir Demyan of “homophobia”. Presumably, none of their subordinates, despite all promises coming from the bosses, agreed to slander themselves on this matter.

  It was as early as in the summer of 2007 that the “Protection of Labour” union at the OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” enterprise forced Hluchy and Zavylov to start negotiations aimed at drafting and signing a collective agreement that had not been concluded at the enterprise for four years in violation of the respective law of Ukraine. However, the management accustomed to having tamed personnel was not too happy about the prospects of having a collective agreement signed. The fact that Olga Vinogradova, Head of the UNI Moscow Office, and Oleg Vernik, President of the Central Committee of the “Protection of Labour” union in Kiev, associated themselves with the negotiations forced Axel Hluchy and Mikhail Zavylov to temporarily withdraw from straightforward attacks against the union.

  On 18 October 2007 the management of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” represented by Axel Hluchy, Mikhail Zavylov, Dmitry Furman, Head of the Legal Department of the enterprise, and Alexei Mischenko, a consultant, and the trade union party represented by Olga Vinogradova and Oleg Vernik sign a memorandum introducing a one-month moratorium on any actions of the parties that might result in aggravating the situation at the enterprise. This kind of a non-aggression pact allowed the trade union activists of “Protection of Labour” to have a sigh of relief and get fully involved in drafting their proposals for the collective agreement. 

  Having a clear understanding of the fact that the time is running against them, Axel Hluchy and Mikhail Zavylov started a new anti-union campaign. On 29 November 2007 Mikhail Zavylov sends another request for consent to Vladimir Demyan’s dismissal to the Central Committee of the “Protection of Labour”, this document being so legally irresponsible that there was an impression that the management of “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” is very cynical and self-confident in unrolling the situation towards unlawful actions against Vladimir Demyan. The provocation, indeed, came very soon.

  On 4-7 December 2007, by virtue of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Collective Agreements” stipulating the right of individuals taking part in negotiations aimed at signing a collective agreement as representatives of the parties to be released from their direct duties for the period of negotiating and drafting proposals for the collective agreement maintaining their average wages, Vladimir Demyan was on official leave leading to finalization of the draft of the first two chapters of the collective agreement. On Saturday, 8 December 2007, Vladimir Demyan returned to work. On Tuesday, 11 December 2007, Vladimir Demyan sent the official proposals of the first and second chapters of the collective agreement on behalf of the trade union local of the “Protection of Labour” union to the email of Mikhail Zavylov. On 12 December 2007 Vladimir Demyan was dismissed.

  The anatomy of the provocation against the trade union leader is indicative and very typical of the multinationals coming to the territory of Ukraine and all post-Soviet countries: a maximum of cynicism and lawlessness accompanied by a minimum of moral, ethical and cultural aspects. On 11 December 2007 and on 12 December 2007, Tuesday, Vladimir Demyan worked in the first shift from 7-00 till 15-00. On Tuesday, 12 December 2007, at about 15-00 Vladimir Demyan first faced an oral accusation on the part of Peter Troyan, Director of Commercial Centre #16, and Zavylov’s management that the period between 15-00 and 21-00 on 11 December 2007 was his “absence” from work. However, after a fair appeal of Vladimir Demyan to the common sense of the management and, especially, to the electronic data containing the time of his coming to work and leaving work on Monday, the accusation was changed from “absence” (Article 40 Clause 3 of the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine) into “systematic
 dereliction of duties imposed by virtue of an employment contract and internal regulations by an employee without valid excuse” (Article 40 Clause 4 of the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine). The attempt made by Vladimir Demyan to clarify, with over 15 representatives of the management gathered together to hand over the order of dismissal hastily drafted by Troyan to Demyan, which particular duties he had failed to perform, systematically and particularly on 11-12 December 2007, was not successful. At the end of this farce, when Vladimir was leaving the premises of Commercial Centre #16 after receiving the order of dismissal, his working tools – a screwdriver and a pair of pliers – were taken out of the pockets of his work wear. The management immediately registered these tools officially as “disappeared from the sales area” in August (!). No further comment is necessary

  The procedure of this dismissal violated a number of articles of the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On Trade Unions, Their Rights and Guarantee of Activity”. Among them, and besides the already mentioned Article 41 of the Law of Ukraine “On Trade Unions, Their Rights and Guarantees of Activity” (“bringing workers who are members of elected trade union bodies to disciplinary account shall only be allowed with prior consent of the elected body they are members of”), the following should be mentioned:

  Article 149 of the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine “Order of Applying Disciplinary Measures” – “before applying a disciplinary measure, the owner or a duly authorized body shall request written explanations from the person who violated labour discipline”. In violation of the Law, the management of the enterprise did not make any attempt to get Vladimir Demyan’s written explanations.

  Article 252 of the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine “Guarantees for the Workers of Enterprises, Institutions and Organisations Elected to Trade Union Bodies” – “dismissal of members of an elected trade union body of an enterprise, institution or organization (including its structural units), its leaders
, except for the cases of following the general procedure, shall be allowed with prior consent of the elected body they are members of, as well as of the supreme elected body of this trade union”.  

  Thus Vladimir Demyan, an ordinary electrician in Kiev, had his personal experience of the greatly praised Western “style” of interaction with trade unions on the part of multinational enterprises. Having come to Ukraine and other post-Soviet states, MNEs demonstrate a truly monstrous power of their aggression against even the minimum of democratic rights of employees to form their own trade union organizations. The impudence and self-assurance of the MNE management often verges on absolutely inadequate perception of the reality. Their strong belief in permissiveness and the ability to buy court decisions in favour of the “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine” corporation is sticking out so obviously that one can only be amazed at the self-conceit of these anti-unionists – Axel Hluchy, Mikhail Zavylov and Peter Troyan. We should and will respond to this with a broad international campaign of solidarity with the unlawfully dismissed trade union leader.
  Our demands are simple and clear to all employees of OOO “METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine”:

  ·        The unlawfully dismissed trade union leader Vladimir Demyan must be reinstated in his job immediately!
  ·        The owners of the METRO Group holding must immediately terminate employment contracts with Axel Hluchy, Mikhail Zavylov and Peter Troyan, the oppressors of free trade unions.

  Our decisive victory shall not be in the stuffy court rooms! Our victory rests in uniting all labour and trade union initiatives in a joint front of fighting for labour and trade union rights!

  Oleg VERNIK, President of the Central Committee of the “Protection of Labour” (Zakhyst pratsy) trade union of Kiev

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