Rebuild Ukraine — but not without its workers

Draft legislation currently before the Ukrainian parliament has alarmed trade unions across the country. The proposed laws entrench the worst martial law restrictions - weakening union representation, stripping protections for pregnant women and workers in hazardous conditions and shutting trade unions out of collective bargaining.

A labour code under attack

Most troubling is the way the drafts have been developed.

"We were never given the text of this law,"

said Mykhailo Volynets, chairman of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine. Social dialogue, already fragile - the national tripartite council has not met since 2018 - has been bypassed entirely. For affiliates already struggling to hold together union structures amid industrial devastation, the exclusion is an existential threat.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan was direct:

"We call for an immediate end to Russian aggression, the right to social dialogue and the right for workers."

General secretary Atle Høie warned that the window to get this right is narrow:

"International companies will want to buy what is left of Ukraine. We have to make sure that the EU is clear to Ukraine on what is necessary."

The European Commission and the ILO have both been unequivocal: the draft legislation must be brought into full alignment with EU and ILO standards - a condition of EU accession.

"We expect Ukraine to abide by these standards,"

said Laura Corrado from the European Commission's directorate-general for employment. Magnus Berge of the ILO added:

"The war does not absolve the government of its international commitments."

Devastation on the ground

Behind the legislative battle lies profound industrial destruction. The picture across sectors is the same: enterprises destroyed or suspended, membership in freefall, unions barely holding together. In machine-building alone, membership stands at just 15 per cent - not because workers are leaving, but because the workplaces no longer exist. The chemical sector has seen entire facilities go silent, with 64 companies employing just 29,000 workers remaining.

Collective bargaining has largely stalled.

"We are fighting not to lose what we already have,"

said one representative from the aerospace sector. Social dialogue at the national level has effectively collapsed, with employers and government structures failing to fulfil existing agreements.

"If these draft laws pass, trade unions will be excluded from reconstruction,"

an affiliate warned - leaving international investors to dictate the terms of recovery while Ukrainian workers bear the costs.

Reconstruction must work for workers

Trade unions insist they must have a seat at the table before the terms of recovery are set, including ensuring that new industrial and energy models, among them the transition toward renewables, are shaped with worker participation from the outset.

"We have to be prepared for the day the war ends,"

said Atle Høie.

Kemal Özkan reinforced the point:

"Our mission is to have strong unions present in the reconstruction."

Magnus Berge put it plainly:

"If working conditions are not good, you will not have the workers - and you need them to rebuild."

IndustriALL Global Union, together with solidarity partners Union to Union, IF Metall and industriALL Europe, has committed to a sustained three-year programme supporting Ukrainian affiliates to rebuild capacity, strengthen social dialogue and ensure workers' voices are central to Ukraine's recovery. Reconstruction is not just about bricks and concrete. It is a question of power - and Ukrainian workers intend to be part of it.