How Trade Union Federation of Belarus became a cog in the State machinery

The FPB has turned into a tool of political control.

Office of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FPB)

Just recently, Chairman of the Trade Union Federation of Belarus Yuri Senko spoke about the implementation of the social partnership principle in Belarus.

“Trade unions, employers, and the Government should sit around a negotiations table as equal partners to seek solutions for issues that have matured for a specific period of time. The country moves forward, the world moves forward. We, along with the other social partners, should keep abreast with the current time,” declared the Head of the official unions.

“Salidarnast” has decided to examine how the FPB is “keepin abreast with the current time” and whether it is indeed an “equal partner”. Here is the first Article in a cycle devoted to the Federation.

“In a situation of total fear there can be no protection”

In April 2025, the Directive No. 12 of Aliakasandr Lukashenka “On the implementation of the foundations of the Belarusian State’s ideology” was published. The Directive, in particular, “provides for the establishment of the conceptual foundations of the Belarusian State’s ideology, the propaganda of the understanding of the Belarusian people’s statehood shared by the whole society, the unification of approaches to carrying out ideological work among the population and its evaluation, the obligation to implement the Belarusian State’s ideology in all spheres of economy and in all economic entities, regardless of the form of ownership”.

And, of course, the answer to the question of who is going to implement the ideology in economic entities if obvious – the FPB. Which was very expeditiously confirmed by the same Yuri Senko in his interview to the “Soviet Belarus” newspaper when he commented on the Directive:

“We see the trade union component practically in every line, in every message [of the text]… Because everything we are proud of today, everything we cherish, everything that ensures the wellbeing of the working man is based precisely on the ideology of our State… And trade unions as the largest non-governmental organization will focus all efforts on preserving these values.”

Moreover, during the presidential campaign of 2025, Yuri Senko was the head of the activist group collecting voters’ signatures to support the nomination of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and then managed his election campaign headquarters. So, today, the FPB officially and, in fact, by command is built into the ruling system and is accountable to it.

Of course, it did not happen yesterday, but now the authorities and the unions attached to them have given up all pretence that the Federation is a “voluntary independent association of trade unions, their associations, and associated members”. And that any trade union is a “voluntary non-governmental organization” as it is written in their Statutes. The words “independent” and “voluntary” look totally out of place in the country’s current harsh political landscape but for the State propaganda machine the link between words and reality is absolutely irrelevant.

Today, the FPB membership counts around 4 million workers, however, all public sector workers are counted as union members by default. And if somebody does not want to join, there is Article 365 of the Belarusian Labour Code for you which clearly states that only union members are eligible for any supplements to their wages – today, this means affiliation to the FPB because the independent unions have been destroyed.

These supplementary payments stipulated in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) can be quite substantial, so it is easy to understand why the majority of workers are not prepared to give up their “voluntary” membership in an “independent” organization.

So, it turns out that a worker is in a state of a forced choice and the FPB achieves 100 per cent union density. And with the independent unions destroyed, all chances of having an influence on the situation in a workplace in terms of protecting workers’ rights are gone. In a situation of total fear there can be no protection.

FPB as a Ministry for Handling Workers

Mind you, at the turn of the century things were quite different: the FPB still retained a high degree of autonomy. But after the 2001 presidential elections where the then FPB Chair was an alternative to Lukashenka as the single candidate from the opposition, the powers that be realized that they needed to do something about that organization.And fast.

At the time, the FPB did pose a certain threat to the regime; it had its own money and it was at least formally independent, although the official unions were always strongly dependent on a multitude of people, from workplace managers to ministers.

Besides, new union leaders could emerge and the situation of 2001 when the Head of a trade union centre joined the big game of politics could repeat itself. So, a regulation was passed canceling the check-off system of collecting union membership dues which instantly created a rather difficult situation for the Federation.

Collecting dues in cash is, above all, a huge organizational challenge that was not always dealt with in an efficient manner. So, before too long, trade union structures started laying off some of their staff because the amount of collected dues was going down and the unions’ financial situation deteriorated accordingly.

And then the powers that be offered the Federation a deal: you want your problems gone, then accept our appointee. In 2002, Leanid Kozyk, the former Head of Presidential Administration, became the FPB Chairman. In 2010, ahead of the presidential elections, Leanid Kozyk, on behalf of trade unions, supported Aliaksandr Lukashenka and declared that the unions were ready to collect signatures supporting his nomination for President. The tradition has taken root since.

And later, in 2025, at a meeting convened before the presidential elections and attended by the current Head of the FPB Yuri Senko, Aliaksandr Lukashenko expressed his gratitude to unions for collecting signatures for him again, although the election date had just been announced and there were no election activist groups formed yet.

So, the FPB went on doing what it had been doing all these years – being a State Ministry for handling workers. Besides, the Head of the Federation is, to all intents and purposes, appointed by the President; in any case, this process never takes palce without Lukashenka’s involvement. There is the official HR register of the Head of State where, among positions in governmental structures, you will find the only top position in an NGO – the Trade Union Federation. Yuri Senko is already a third FPB Chairman who was appointed to this position.

And what comes next is the “growing” of trade unions into the structure of governmental authorities. And first of all, at the places that are important to the powers that be, namely, at regional and sector-based union organizations. Their Heads take part in the meetings of governmental structures and report to them, while union conveners at the workplace level, in essence, agree their activities with the general managers.

And even this servile organization periodically gets jabs from Lukashenko. In June 2024, he received Senko to take his report (a “very independent” organization and an “equal partner”!) and said:

“There are quite a lot of criticisms coming from the population with regard to the unions: somewhere they are not active enough, somewhere else they’ve become too bureaucratic, somewhere else still they failed to provide assistance and support. We need to make sure that there is less of this bureaucracy and other things.”   

“I’m always ready to deliver on the tasks given”, reported Senko.

“After 2020, it is organized labour the powers that be are apprehensive about”

Today, practically all industrial enterprises are ridden with retired militia and security officers because seniority in their previous positions allows them to retire much earlier than the majority of people and then they find other job. And they do what they had always been doing – keeping an eye on people and identifying the disloyal ones.

Many analysts are of the opinion that it is organized workers that the authorities are apprehensive about. For Lukashenka has seen strikes and attempted strikes in the workplaces where he believed he had his most loyal voters. And that triggered the annihilation of independent unions. To make sure that there is but one fully predictable and controlled structure left on the scorched earth.

Today, the FPB as an organization fully controlled by the authorities does not engage in genuine protection of workers. In 2020, it sided with the authorities although people were looking for justice and looked not only to independent unions but also to the FPB structures, hoping to find assistance and support there. But, contrary to their expectations, the FPB actually helped the authorities persecute independent union leaders and activists. This is what happened, for instance, at the Naftan oil refinery and the Hrodna Azot fertilizer plant.

In the April interview of Yuri Senko we mentioned earlier there is another phrase. We shall give you a quote. “Quite a few enterprises during the election campaign have been visited by myself and other trusted representatives of Lukashenka. The President has given us a task to collect, during those meetings, issues that people were interested in. We have analyzed these issues to see that there are no global, systemic problems among them.”

And here, as they say, we have No Comment.

Victoria Leontieva

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