By CHRIS HUTCHINSON
The year 2023 is ending with little for Ukrainians to celebrate militarily. Their six-month counter-offensive stalled in trying to take back land lost to Russia east of Kyiv. Russia has an extremely strong defensive front line that is stacked for miles with landmines. Near Kherson, both sides have been stuck in a quagmire along the Dnieper River. On Dec. 16, The New York Times wrote, “Soldiers and marines who have taken part in the river crossings described the offensive as brutalizing and futile, as waves of Ukrainian troops have been struck down on the river banks or in the water, even before they reach the other side.” Nevertheless, some encouraging reports are coming in from Ukrainian forces that are finally establishing themselves at some locations along the left bank of the Dnieper. This is coupled with the withdrawal of Russian forces and ships from the East near Crimea.
Yet there is much more to the war in Ukraine than what happens on the front lines. The Ukrainian working class is involved in acute struggles both against Putin’s invasion and against their own government. The situation is dire for many workers, as new data shows that 22% of workers make less than minimum wage. It is widely known that under the cover of war Zelensky and his administration has attempted, and in some cases been successful, in passing anti-labor laws that give employers full reign to abuse workers. This includes new “lockout” provisions in the labor law introduced in October 2023 that would allow employers to strip workers of all their rights to strike. The Zelensky government is entering on the side of the employers by establishing undemocratic and alternate union bodies not truly representative of union membership.
On Dec. 21, Open Democracy reported, “Documents obtained via freedom of information law show how two leading MPs from Ukraine’s ruling political party proposed that the government set up a brand new ‘Council of Trade Union Leaders’ in July 2023—in an explicit attempt to sidestep the government’s existing institution for dialogue with employers and trade unions.”
The article continued, “According to trade-union leaders Open Democracy spoke to, none of them have been informed about this new council, nor has it been announced publicly.”
The effort made by workers and students, no matter how small, to fight both political and economic struggles in the middle of a war are important for developing the capacity of the working class to continue the struggle regardless of the final outcome. In this article we highlight three important fights taking place in Ukraine:
Bolt Food Courier strike
On Oct. 2, food couriers from Dnipro and Kyiv, Ukraine, who work for Bolt Foods, an Estonian-based start-up “app” that rivals Uber, went on strike. The workers are striking over similar issues to those that “gig economy” workers in the U.S. face. Issues include wage reductions, guaranteed hourly payment, mileage, protection for union activity, and restoration of weekly premiums. The strike is happening in waves one or two days each week; but it has been difficult as not every courier is on strike and the bosses have no interest in giving in to their demands.
ILNSS posted an article with a quote from Oleksander, a striking courier. He said, “The response from them was as ridiculous as possible. They justified their decision by the fact that the price of gasoline had increased. But this increase in prices does not directly concern them. It concerns us, because we pay for the fuel ourselves. The couriers therefore promise to continue the strike until their salaries are increased.”
Union nurses, “Be Like Nina” movement
In an interview on the International Labour Network for Struggles and Solidarity (ILNSS), Oksana Slobodiana, a union nurse and leader of “Be Like Nina,” had this to say, “Our movement was born out of a grassroots initiative of health workers (nurses) in 2019. Since then, we have been protecting the rights of health care workers. If we can’t solve problems through dialogue, we organize demonstrations. Our main task is to improve the working and training conditions of health care workers. To do this, we use all methods, of course, within the law.
“The name of the movement ‘Be like Nina’ comes from the name of the initiator of the first nurses’ demonstration, Nina Bondar. Nina, who worked in a hospital in Kyiv, decided one night to voice her dissatisfaction with working conditions, pay and the management’s attitude towards nurses. She posted this message—a cry from the heart—on Facebook. Overnight, she had more than 20,000 views. Since then, health care workers have been uniting to defend their professional rights. Like Nina, they all want to stop ignoring the violations they face in the workplace.”
In 2022 they mobilized and won important wage increases and won legal protections for nurses and staff against sexist harassment on the job. The nurses that are organized around this movement have used their platform to denounce the dismissal of staff at an elderly home in the city of Dnipropetrovsk and won payments after salary cuts were announced for health-care workers in the city of Zaporozhye.
The “Be Like Nina” movement has created a platform for health-care workers to communicate about their needs and mobilize against attacks from the pro-employer government. The organization acts on a national level and has 85,000 members, mainly women. Work was difficult for health-care workers prior to the Russian invasion, and since then conditions are worse. In a November 2023 interview with Patrick Le Tréhondat, Slobodiana stated, “Working conditions are also a difficult issue. The workload has increased: there are sometimes 30 to 40 patients per nurse. Psychiatry suffers the most: one nurse can manage up to 60 patients. Health establishments continue to be closed, leaving many employees without jobs. For example, in the Kirovohrad region, the Oleksandriya hospital was closed without payment of salary arrears for several months.”
Recently, Oleksandriya care staff finally got paid wages that were in arrears. Be Like Nina reports, “On the eve of the New Year, the care staff of the city of Oleksandria, in the Kirovohrad region, managed to get the payment of several months of arrears of salaries. The total amount of the arrears was about 4 million Hryvnias (96,000 euros). Around 150 health workers have received this money.
“Medical staff at Oleksandriia District Central Hospital have been facing pay delays since September of 2023. Due to insufficient funding from the Ukrainian National Health Service … the nursing staff decided to fight for their wages. … A month and a half of fighting for our honestly-won money has not gone in vain.” Our management did not react, but thanks to the municipal authorities, on December 22, we were paid in full for our two months’ salaries and received compensation for un-taken leave,” said Svetlana Degtyarenko, one of the nurses.
Slobodiana went on in the November interview to describe the sexist conditions nurses are fighting: “Women, especially Ukrainian nurses, have an excessive workload. In the workplace, they are responsible for patients’ health, must react in a timely manner and provide prompt medical care. At the same time, the majority of Ukrainian nurses are denied career development and are not encouraged to upgrade their skills. In addition to her work, a woman has to bring up her children, look after the health of her family and loved ones, and look after the running of the home. That’s why Be like Nina raises this issue time and time again. We’re looking for an equal distribution of responsibilities in society.”
Housing crisis in Russian occupied Mariupol
Part of the Russian invasion has included a land grab of newly occupied territories like Mariupol. A huge number of buildings and homes in Mariupol were destroyed by Russian bombs in the lead-up to the occupation. In June 2023, the Kyiv Post reported, “Almost as soon as they [Russia] had taken control of the city, Russia began to try to undo the damage inflicted and began a massive reconstruction effort. Moscow seemed to view the devastated city as a blank canvas allowing it to turn Mariupol into a model city. The design documents, signed by the Unified Institute for Land Planning of the Russian Federation in July 2022, has planned for the construction of 8,750,000 square meters of housing by 2035.”
The article continued, “Construction moved ahead rapidly with reports that Russia has imported over 20,000 construction workers from all over Russia and CIS countries. The rebuilding effort has been accompanied by a barrage of posts on social media showing the progress being made in remodeling the city with bulldozers and heavy engineering equipment at work and satellite images showing how whole city blocks were being leveled to make way for the new vision.”
Today, Russian authorities are encouraging Russian citizens from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere to buy property in Mariupol. Unfettered by the war, there are Russians who are considering it a good investment and expect the gentrification to go ahead without many issues. Property can even come for free if it can be proven that it was completely abandoned.
The initial invasion and siege of Mariupol, especially at the Azovstal Steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers were pinned down by the Russian advance, was particularly traumatic. It’s unclear if and when people will return to Mariupol. The Russian occupation will not withdraw without a fight, and residents are traumatized by the experience. In February 2023, The Guardian wrote, “Even if Ukraine takes back Mariupol in the near future, the pain and trauma of the last year will leave an indelible mark on the city and its people.”
Ukrainians who are still living in Mariupol are having trouble finding housing. But despite all of the hardships, signs of resilience have begun to show. A small protest was organized in December to demand housing from the Russian authorities. This is an important development as the struggle for Ukrainians to take back their city may be sparked by any number of issues like insufficient shelter, food, and water.
Feminist Workshop, Lviv
The following is a Facebook post from Феміністична майстерня / Feminist Workshop about their Dec. 3 action in Lviv against women’s violence: “There is a myth, as if in Ukrainian tradition, a woman was given only some sacred, special place as bereginí, mother. Unfortunately, the truth is different—the historical position of women in Ukraine was very deplorable. Violence against women has been so normalized that it has been reflected in proverbs and folk songs, quotes from which we used on the posters for the action, “Let violence against women remain only in folklore.” Already on Sunday, Dec. 3, the activists of the Feminist Workshop took to the streets of Lviv to draw attention to the problem of violence against women. Despite the snow, frost and air alarms, we are ready to talk about what matters to us! And we encourage our followers to do it too. Opposition to violence against women is always timely!”
Student union demands rights on campus
Students in Kyiv have organized Priama Diia, a new student union that is organizing for rights on campus. Most recently, students protested the plan at Kyiv International University (KMU) to introduce fees for students who miss classes. They point out in a November statement, “Simply paying for missed classes is a blatant form of violation of the integrity of the university and an absolutely unacceptable manifestation of the commercialization of education.”
Priama Diia has also fought for adequate housing on campus. Russian missile strikes have left campus dorms in a state of disrepair. Students have been fighting for basics like windows, bomb shelters, and heat as the university dragged out the restoration of the buildings. Students formed a committee to audit the progress of the university.
Priama Diia stated in a Facebook post, “The problem of lack of heating in Kyiv universities and dormitories is becoming systemic and therefore requires organized action by students. It is obvious that extremely unfavorable conditions stand in the way: the period of the academic session, the active ignorance of the problem by the administration and the authorities, and sometimes the risk of repressive measures against active students. This is why there is a need for solidarity and a united struggle for better study and living conditions.”
Workers’ Aid to Ukraine convoys: Since the beginning of the war unions gathered in the ILNSS including the CSP-Conlutas trade-union federation in Brazil, Solidaires in France, and many others around the world are maintaining a serious campaign of worker-to-worker aid in difficult circumstances. Already three aid convoys have traveled from Poland to cities around Ukraine delivering vital supplies for working-class communities and also for those fighting on the front lines.
The direct connection with the Independent Miners Union branch in Kryvyi Rih has helped bolster the efforts of the union. There is a serious need for material aid both for those at the front lines fighting against Russia or families who are working in the factories and mines where they have faced missile strikes.
One of those missile strikes led to the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam. Blowing up the dam flooded small villages and severely reduced the supply of fresh drinking water. Workers of the Independent Miners Union in Kryvyi Rih put out an international call for money to buy a drill to build wells. Yuri Samoilov, president of the Kryvyi Rih branch of the miners union, said, “The water that is distributed today is unusable for drinking; not only is it undrinkable, it is also unusable for anything else, even if it is boiled. It has a lot of chemicals and impurities in it.”
Samoilov also said in a video appeal, “Drinking water in the city is actually not free, you can only buy it in stores. In general, there was a problem with water before. In Kryvyi Rih, water has always not been of very good quality, because active mining and mineral extraction are carried out here. … Capitalists and their power are not very concerned about this matter; they look at water supply through the prism of their interests and profit. They make a business out of selling bottled water to those who can pay. … The position of the working class of Kryvyi Rih, all ordinary people, is that water should not be turned into a commodity, water is a common good.”
The campaign has been successful, and all the money has been raised for buying the water drill. Workers Aid to Ukraine is still accepting donations to help the miners’ union in Kryvyi Rih with medical, clothing, and other supplies. You can contribute here: https://chuffed.org/project/workersaidtoukraine
Photo: Ukrainian health workers protest. (Ukraine Solidarity Network)