Europe

On 23 November 2020, the president of the FGTB, Thierry Bodson, and sixteen other trade unionists were condemned for “malicious obstruction of traffic in the context of a strike movement” to suspended prison sentences and fines ranging from 600 to 4,800 euros (US$723 – US$5,782) by the criminal court of Liège. The seventeen activists were prosecuted for their participation in a general strike against austerity in 2015. These trade unionists were designated as those who had blocked the E40 highway in Cheratte during the strike of 19 October 2015.

This condemnation led to an outcry among trade unions and civil society organisations in Belgium, many describing it as an obstacle to democratic rights and underlining the need to urgently review Article 406 of the penal code which allows for prosecution and sentencing on this dubious ground. This was the second time in two years that FGTB members have been condemned on the basis of this Article.

On 24 November 2020, Turkish police cracked down on members of Birlesik Metal-Is union, which had organised a march from Gebze to Ankara to protest the unfair dismissal of workers in several companies as well as the use of COVID-19 as an excuse to single out trade union members for unpaid leave. A massive police presence prevented the start of the march, and 109 members of Birlesik Metal-Is were taken into police custody. Video footage of the arrests shows extensive police brutality in the process.

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in strikes and demonstrations in Belarus since Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in rigged presidential elections in early August 2020. Thousands have been arrested and detained and more than 150 remained behind bars. Furthermore, punitive legal consequences for striking workers have continued across the country. In Zhlobin, a local court sentenced the workers Igor Povarov, Alexander Bobrov and Yevgeny Govor of the Belarusian metallurgical plant (BMZ) to three and two and a half years of imprisonment respectively for an attempt to organise a strike at this plant on 17 August 2020.

On 9 November 2020, employees of Georgian House, a meat manufacturer and retailer in Georgia, went on strike to demand the reinstatement of 17 employees who had been fired illegally and also to demand improvements to their working conditions. Concomitantly, workers and their trade union applied to the minister of labour to request the appointment of a mediator and initiate negotiations. The mediation process was unsuccessful, as the management of Georgian House fired four more employees involved in the collective dispute while fining others with a 49 per cent cut in their salaries. Workers’ rallies continued in protest of this new wave of sanctions. In total, the company fired 13 workers who had participated in the strike.

On 4 February 2021, the Slovak Parliament adopted amendments to the Labour Code which severely undermined collective bargaining in the country. Under the new provisions, which were not discussed with unions prior to their adoption, the extension of higher-level collective agreements was prohibited. Only agreements concluded before 1 March 2021 stayed in place until their expiry. These amendments will have a disastrous impact on collective bargaining coverage in Slovakia, which currently lags at 26 per cent.

In the Netherlands, IKEA, a major furniture manufacturing brand, established a yellow union in its headquarters (the WIM - Employees’ Association of IKEA Workers), granting it privileges and facilities which were not afforded to other company-level unions. The company’s favouritism was blatant during the negotiations of the collective agreement in October 2020.

In 2020, the management of Aroma, a winemaking company in Moldova, unilaterally suspended the application of the collective bargaining agreement and refused to carry out negotiations with the representative trade union within the unit, affiliated with the National Trade Union Federation of Agriculture and Food of Moldova, Agroindsind. Instead, the company targeted the union leadership by successively transferring, demoting and finally dismissing Ms Nina Negru, the union president.

The Hungarian government recently enacted damaging decrees for healthcare workers. The provisions, which came into force on 18 November 2020, placed tighter restrictions on health sector unions, prohibiting free organisation and repressing the right to strike. Under the decrees, healthcare workers were stripped of their status as public servants and were obliged to sign a new work contract by 1 March 2021. Furthermore, the collective rights of healthcare workers were curtailed with the banning of any future collective agreements from January 2021 onwards, while all collective agreements concluded so far expired on the same date. The right to strike was also severely restricted, as specific rules must be laid down in an agreement to be concluded between the government and the “unions concerned”. In the absence of an agreement, the right to strike cannot be exercised.

The management of Naftan, an oil refinery in Belarus, illegally suspended for a six-month period the clause of the collective agreement providing that workers and trade union representatives cannot be dismissed on the initiative of the employer without the prior consent of the trade union. Soon after, union members were summarily dismissed. The Naftan deputy director said that "the measure was aimed at strengthening labour discipline".

In Israel, the government regularly delayed negotiations in public services and refused to discuss a variety of issues that clearly constitute issues for negotiation in accordance with Israeli law.

Since its legal recognition on 27 November 2019, the Trade Union of United Miners of Bulqiza (SMBB) has been faced with systematic dismissals of its members. The chairman of the union, Elton Debreshi, was dismissed by AlbChrome, the biggest chromium mining company operating in Albania, only days after the union formation. In response, the workers went on strike, demanding the reinstatement of their union leader. In the days that followed, other union leaders and activists were temporarily detained and interrogated by the police.

While the strike was ended by workers on the promise by the local labour inspectorate that the issue of the dismissal of trade unionists would be swiftly reviewed, in December 2019, AlbChrome fired three other members of the union executive committee: Beqir Duriçi, Behar Gjimi and Ali Gjeta. In addition, many workers were threatened with dismissal if they joined the new union or continued to be members. Since then, SMBB has taken the dismissal cases to court and to the commissioner for protection from discrimination (CPD). In November 2020, the CPD concluded that the leaders of SMBB had been discriminated against by AlbChrome due to their trade union activity. Meanwhile, the court cases were still pending and the four union leaders were still awaiting their reinstatement.

In Turkey, unions have long been faced with employers’ discriminatory tactics aimed at avoiding union formation in the workplace. The most common practice is to fire enough union members to bring the numbers below the recognition threshold. In the metal industry, Özer Elektrik, an electrical appliances producer, fired ten union members before Birleşik Metal-İş, which had organised the majority of workers in the company, could apply for certification to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services in July 2020. In addition, Özer Elektrik called security forces to disperse union members who had gathered to protest. Union leaders were taken into custody to frighten the workers away from union membership.

Similarly, in August 2020, shortly before Türk Metal filed its petition for recognition, cable manufacturer Ünal Kablo fired 31 union members, bringing the numbers below the threshold. Another union, Özçelik-İş, applied for collective bargaining certification at Sampa Otomotiv, showing that it represented a majority of workers. The company responded by dismissing 71 union members.

On 31 December 2020, the Court of Bologna in Italy considered that the purportedly objective algorithm, developed by food-delivery platform Deliveroo to allocate orders, discriminated against riders who took strike action and therefore ordered the company to pay damages to the trade unions that had initiated the case. The court found it to be the conscious choice of management to subordinate riders through a discriminatory reputational system which downgrades in the same way, without distinction, both those who are absent for trivial reasons and those who abstain from delivery due to exercising the right to strike. The court therefore considered that the evaluation model adopted by Deliveroo was the result of the conscious choice of the company to privilege the availability of the rider and to penalise couriers who exercised their right to strike.

On the morning of 6 November 2020, the police raided the homes of several members of the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen), in the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakır, detaining twenty-six teachers. The raids were conducted as part of an investigation opened by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on undisclosed grounds. The police also searched the cabinets of teachers in their schoolrooms, while the teachers were taken to Diyarbakır Security Directorate.

On 27 October 2020, Alexander Zhuk, BITU union representative at OJSC Grodno Azot, was abducted on his way to work. By noon it became clear that he had been taken to the prosecutor's office, where he was interrogated by the police and secret services. That evening, Zhuk was officially arrested and taken to the pre-trial detention centre in Oktyabrsky District, where he served a 30-day prison sentence for some unclear alleged administrative offenses.

On 16 February 2020, the office of the Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union (REP) was raided by police forces. All communication devices and laptops were seized, along with almost all basic documentation, including accounting documents, various printed and campaign materials, and personal money. Officials refused to give a copy of the search record or supply an inventory of the seized items. The same morning, police searched the homes of Vladimir Maley, REP lawyer for the Brest region, and Andrei Komlik-Yamatin, REP union chairman at the Minsk Motor Plant. He was detained for refusing to open the door and sentenced to 25 days of administrative arrest “for disobedience to an order or request of an official on duty”.

In Kyrgyzstan, the district court decided to prosecute FTUKg deputy chair Kanatbek Osmonov on 10 June 2020, on unknown criminal charges, and to place him under house arrest for two months without the right to use telecommunications and internet, effectively suspending his trade union work. His house arrest was downgraded to “night house arrest” on 30 June 2020.

Two members of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU), Vladimir Berdnikovich and Andrey Prilutsky, were accused of violence against the police. Vladimir Berdnikovich was sentenced to four years after managing to escape the police round-up as the armed forces brutally dispersed protesters. While helping an elderly man who was being beaten up during the protest, Andrey Prilutsky was severely hit, arrested and sentenced to fifteen days in prison.

In Belarus, union activists and workers received harsh court sentences for their participation in the peaceful protests following the result of presidential elections in August 2020.

On 20 January 2021, the Belarus Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the Belaruskali strike committee and judged last year’s strike illegal. Daria Polyakova, youth network coordinator of the Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union (REP), was sentenced to two years of house arrest for “violence or threat of violence against an employee of the internal affairs agency”.

On 1 July 2020, during a protest organised by the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPGU) and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) near the office of the president of Ukraine in Kyiv, unidentified police officers advanced on workers and began beating them up, inflicting injuries to many. The police also illegally confiscated property (tents and personal items) belonging to NPGU.

On 24 November 2020, Turkish police cracked down on members of Birlesik Metal-Is union, which had organised a march from Gebze to Ankara to protest the unfair dismissal of workers in several companies and the use of COVID-19 as an excuse to single out trade union members for unpaid leave. A massive police presence prevented the start of the march, and a hundred and nine members of Birlesik Metal-Is were taken into police custody. Video footage of the arrests shows extensive police brutality in the process.

In January 2021, the authorities in Minsk, without providing any explanation, refused to register BITU-affiliated students’ and teachers’ unions at the Belarusian State University.

In 2020, the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan (FTUKg) has been fighting the government’s attempts to take control of its elected positions.

On 5 February 2020, the Council of the FTUKg finally succeeded in dismissing the FTUKg chair, Mirbek Asanakunov, who had been elected in 2017 with the heavy support and help of the government; the Council appointed Ryskul Babayeva as the new chair. In retaliation, the government launched a series of raids in the homes of FTUKg leaders, initiating criminal investigations on spurious charges. The FTUKg work was effectively paralysed, and their bank accounts were frozen. Its congress, to be held in December 2020, was cancelled due to an order by the deputy prime minister to suspend the impending elections. Eventually, the mandate of the FTUKg elected members expired. On 10 December 2020, a group of people led by a member of the Parliament took control of the building of the Federation.

On 24 November 2020, the authorities in Moskovsky (a district of Minsk) decided to deny registration to newly created BITU unions in two IT companies, EPAM Systems and JSC Peleng, under the pretext of the absence of common professional interests between the employees of these companies and the activities of the BITU.

For years in Belarus, the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU) and its company-level organisations have been denied registration on dubious grounds. On 13 October 2021, the authorities in Polotsk illegally refused to recognise the newly formed union at fiberglass manufacturer Polotsk-Steklovolokno. Under the Belarusian law, such refusal leads to the automatic dissolution of the trade union.

In December 2020, a lawsuit was filed by the municipal authorities in Shymkent, requesting the suspension of the activities of the Industrial Trade Union of Fuel and Economic Complex Workers. This complaint was promoted by three companies, the Oil Construction Company LLP, the West Oil LLP and Bozashy Trans Kurylys LLP, which claimed that the union’s founding documents and structure failed to reflect the changes required by the new legislation. After a speedy trial, which began on 20 January 2021, the court decided to suspend the union’s registration. An appeal against this decision was lodged.

Since it was deregistered on 28 March 2017, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (CNTUK) has been prevented by the government from re-registering under a new name and, consequently, from functioning as a union. In 2021, the issue of transferring the arrested funds of the liquidated CNTUK to another trade union remained unresolved.

In April 2020, the workers’ union within the Armenian Ministry of Economy was unilaterally disbanded by the government, which claimed that following the restructuring of the Ministry in late 2019, the number of union members had decreased and therefore the union could not be maintained. At the same time, the Ministry stopped implementing the negotiated check-off system.

The Union of State, Local Governments and Public Service Employees of Armenia (USLGPSEA) sent a written request for clarification to which the minister responded by saying that “preliminary surveys revealed that workers are dissatisfied with the effectiveness of the union”. Later in the month, representatives of the Ministry’s management paid a visit to the home of the trade union leader and forced him to sign a letter addressed to the minister notifying him of the cessation of trade union activities within the Ministry.

In Turkey, on May Day the Istanbul police blockaded the DİSK Confederation Central Office in İstanbul in the early morning hours and arrested DISK president Arzu Çerkezoğlu, DISK general secretary Adnan Serdaroğlu and twenty-five members of DISK. The confrontation took place as police blocked the march to Istanbul's Taksim Square, using the COVID-19 curfew as a pretext. The trade unionists were released later in the afternoon. It was the third time the leaders had been arrested that year.

In 2020, the Belarusian government imposed a ban on holding meetings, pickets, processions and demonstrations organised by trade unions. The situation was further complicated by Council of Ministers Ruling No. 196 of 3 April 2020, pursuant to which the organiser of a mass event, prior to submitting an application to the local executive and administrative body, must meet a long list of exorbitant requirements, including ensuring the maintenance of public order during the rally, the provision of medical services and cleaning services, all expenses being borne by the organiser. The law further provides for the possibility of liquidating a trade union for even a single violation of its requirements. These regulations amount to a de facto ban on all public assemblies and strikes for unions.

In Belgium, at the beginning of September 2020, a Molenbeek commune peacekeeper and CGSP trade union delegate was dismissed for having published on his Facebook page articles questioning government policies related to the management of the coronavirus. A support action was organised on 3 September in front of the town hall in favour of this worker's freedom of opinion.