How Trade Unions Around the World Attract New Members: General Confederation of Trade Unions Holds Discussion at the "World" Platform of the "Trade Unions. XXIst Century" Forum
"As our colleagues around the world say, the truth is that only a negligible number of workers join unions for ideological or class reasons. The rest want to see daily, tangible personal benefits from joining a union," Usova reported on October 10th during the VII Intellectual Forum "Trade Unions. XXIst Century. Motives and Incentives."
For the second time, the GCTU became the general partner of the forum and organized the "World" platform, dedicated to finding the most effective union motivational projects in the Commonwealth of Independent States and globally.
Margarita Usova provided examples of various tools used by national trade union centers in CIS countries to attract new members. These include incorporating additional benefits and guarantees for all workers and specific categories of employees into legislation and collective agreements, developing discount systems and preferential programs available only to union members. Unions also engage well-known politicians, writers, athletes, actors, and other opinion leaders to promote their ideas and initiatives. Additionally, unions organize leisure activities for workers and their children, conduct educational events, and advocate for the right of legislative initiative.
At the "World" platform, Muradil Jumadilde uulu, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan, spoke about the experience of deep reforms within the FTUK. After being elected chairman in February 2024, he renewed the team of specialists at the trade union center and began to actively introduce new tools, including digital mechanisms for collecting and analyzing data on union membership and processing member requests.
"As part of our large-scale reform, we conducted an inventory of union membership and purged the register of inactive union organizations. As a result, we arrived at an honest figure of 347,500 union members. Now we can confidently work on increasing this number. We are building our work with union members on new principles. One of the main ones is constant contact with people, identifying their most pressing and relevant problems. By solving these problems, we earn the trust of citizens," he said.
GCTU News
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Viktor Pinsky: GCTU Should Play a Leading Role in Organizing Trade Union Education in the CIS
Viktor Pinsky, Secretary General of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU), believes that the GCTU should take a leading role in developing a system for training, retraining, and upgrading the skills of personnel, exchanging experiences, and educating leaders and trade union activists across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
"We already have successful experience in organizing trade union education. This year over 400 people from six countries participated in the GCTU’s first two educational programs. The idea to launch such programs came directly from the requests of our member organizations. Internships are another in-demand format, especially among young people. They provide an opportunity to personally visit international organizations and see their work from the inside," said Viktor Pinsky.
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For trade unions, March 8 is not just a day of spring and renewal.
For trade unions, March 8 is not just a day of spring and renewal.
For trade unions, March 8 is not merely a day of spring and renewal. Above all, it is an opportunity to once again reflect on the role of women in the world of work and in global development as a whole. Today, women perform 55% of the world’s total labor. They work longer hours than men—by 6 to 13 hours per week—and still earn less: on average, women’s wages amount to 66–84% of men’s wages, depending on the country. There is objective evidence that the more a country values women’s labor and the smaller the gender pay gap, the more developed its economy. A special issue is the “invisibility” of women’s domestic and, as experts call it, reproductive labor. This is why trade unions should continue to fight for justice for working women.
I congratulate all women of the CIS, my colleagues in the parliamentary corps, and women in trade unions on International Women’s Day. I wish you justice, decent work, success, and prosperity!
Viktor Pinsky
General Secretary of the General Confederation of Trade Unions, Member of the State Duma
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General Confederation of Trade Unions Proposes Securing Trade Union Rights in Enterprise Bankruptcy
General Confederation of Trade Unions Proposes Securing Trade Union Rights in Enterprise Bankruptcy
The General Confederation of Trade Unions’ (GCTU) proposals are reflected in the draft CIS model law “On Cross-Border Insolvency and Bankruptcy.”
Trade unions must have the right to represent and protect workers’ interests in the bankruptcy of international companies, according to Viktor Pinsky, Member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and General Secretary of the GCTU.