On August, 9, 2014, the International Trade Union Seminar “Labor migration and labor rights” was successfully held in Moscow (Russia). It was organized by the Trade Union of Labor Migrant Workers (Russia) and The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). The participants of the seminar were: the Trade Union of Labor Migrants (Russia), the Republican Trade Union of the workers in industrial and civil service sectors, service industries and agricultural complex “Zhanartu” (Kazakhstan), the Trade Union “Zashita” (Russia), the representative of the WFTU Headquarters.
Members of The Trade Union of Labor Migrants, the representatives of the Moscow Worker’s Council, the Russian Executive Committee of the Councils of workers, specialists and office workers, Russian left and Communist parties and public organizations, of the Moscow Office of the International Migration Organization (IMO) attended the seminar. The representatives of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR), of The Moscow Federation of Trade Unions (MFP), of the Training and Research Centre of MFP and of The General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU) attended the seminar as observers.
The problems of migrant workers and their labor rights as a global phenomenon and the characteristics of the situation in the sphere of labor migration and migrant workers’ rights in Russia and the former Soviet Union were discussed in a substantial way in a constructive atmosphere.
The participants of the seminar unanimously noted the primary role of trade unions in advocacy of labor rights of Russian and foreign workers, their inseparable substantial unity. Everybody stressed the necessity for labor migrant workers to join the already existing trade unions as well as for the creation of new primary trade union organizations on the workplaces, if there are none yet.
According to opinion of participants of the seminar, it is necessary to stand for equal rights of labor migrants and local workers, to ensure the strict fulfillment of the labor laws, which are violated nearly everywhere, to oblige employers to pay insurance contributions to social funds for migrant workers on equal terms as for the local workers.
There was put forward the proposal on the necessity of preparation of a specially devoted to the labor migration items document of the WFTU which unites 90 millions of workers in 120 countries on all continents of the planet. Participants of the seminar expressed their solidarity with the Kazakhstan independent trade unions, whose activities are now under a threat as a result of adoption of the law on trade unions and the amendments in Criminal Code of the country.
The participants of the seminar supported the Statements “In defense of workers’ rights to establish their own associations”, “Stop the bloodshed in Ukraine” and “Stop killing in Palestine”, accepted by the trade unions-members of WFTU. The Statements also include the call to all trade unions to join to demands of the Statements.
