This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
------------------------

Outcry over UK support for stripping workplace protections in Ukraine

By:   []

Date: 2021-12

British MPs are concerned that a Foreign Office project could help “remove 80% of Ukrainian employees from existing protections” in Ukraine, openDemocracy reports today.

A parliamentary motion by Labour MP John McDonnell responded to the recent publication of a leaked communications plan paid for by a UK Foreign Office aid fund.

The plan advises the Ukrainian government on how to push through reforms to labour legislation, which, the motion notes, could “undermine trade union rights” and remove many employees from secure employment.

Marked with the logo of the British Embassy in Kyiv, the leaked plan noted that the proposed reforms are unpopular and recommended that Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy should “make its messages easier and more emotional” in order to convince the Ukrainian public. The UK Foreign Office has supported a project on “labour regulation transformation” in Ukraine since 2020.

Get our free Daily Email Get one whole story, direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign-up now

The plan also suggested that the ministry should encourage, via off-the-record meetings, supporters outside of government to make more “emotional” pleas to the public over liberalisation.

In early 2020, Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy sought a radical overhaul of labour laws, which prompted backlash and protests from the country’s trade unions. Now, the Ukrainian government and reform supporters in its Parliament are making another attempt at liberalisation – in an effort, they say, to solve the country’s mammoth undeclared work problem.
[END]

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/outcry-over-uk-support-for-stripping-workplace-protections-in-ukraine/
[2] url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

OpenDemocracy via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/