10 November 2021

Documents seen by openDemocracy show the British Foreign Office has advised the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy on how to push through new labour legislation, which experts warn could reduce Ukrainians’ rights at work.

In January 2020, the Ukrainian government U-turned on a drastic attempt to liberalise workplace law...after public backlash and protests.

Now, the government has tabled two new pieces of draft legislation – draft laws 5388 and 5371 – which aim for a partial liberalisation of labour law. According to the mentioned drafts...employment relations will be increasingly determined by individual contracts...The role of trade unions in regulating relations between management and workers will effectively be reduced, including the removal of a provision that management needs approval from trade unions to fire an employee.