Las Vegas
In recognition of his courage, sacrifice and leadership, we honor Brother Mikhail Volynets, President of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (CFTUU), with the 2004 George Meany‑Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. In the face of extreme political repression, employer interference and government corruption, Brother Volynets and the CFTUU are vigorous advocates for workers’ rights, democracy and social and economic justice. His personal and the Confederation's numerous contributions to building democracy over the past nine years were critical to the success of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution.
The Confederation has developed in spite of daunting obstacles. In the past few years, Ukraine was stricken by political repression, economic violence and social isolation. Authoritarian political leadership linked to unregulated economic fiefdoms led to extreme abuses of power, rising economic paralysis, ubiquitous corruption, and repression of free trade unions. The CFTUU was subject to harassment, intimidation, and violent attacks against its members, employees, and leadership.
Brother Volynets has paid a heavy price for this leadership in the union movement. In October and again in December of 2002, he was badly beaten by security forces. The first beating took place during a peaceful protest in front of the Ukrainian presidential administration offices, and the second in a courtroom, while he was observing a trial. Doctors refused to treat and certify his injuries out of fear of government repression. No one was ever charged with either of the beatings.
Unable to break Mikhail, security forces targeted his family. In March 2004, the CFTUU held a press conference denouncing serious violations of trade union rights, firings of union activists, security service attempts to infiltrate union leadership, and court decisions to decertify the independent trade unions. Three days later, masked men wearing the uniforms of state security agents abducted Mikhail’s son, Andrey, in broad daylight at a bus stop in Kiev. Andrey was held for over six hours, threatened with life imprisonment, severely beaten, left unconscious and dumped on the side of a road. Mikhail’s daughter, Sonya, was under regular surveillance, which included having unknown people approach her and make subtle threats. The trauma was such that she stopped attending school for a period of time.
Despite these attacks, when the opportunity arose, the CFTUU mobilized effectively to win democratic reform. In November 2004, at the very beginning of the massive pro-democracy protests throughout the country, the CFTUU's members poured into the squares of Ukraine’s major cities. In Kiev, where the biggest demonstrations took place, Brother Volynets played a pivotal role in thwarting attempts to use force against the peaceful protestors. Later, the union also secured guarantees that election commissions would be staffed fairly and that the electoral process would be carried out legally under the watchful eyes of the Confederation's election observers.
Mikhail Volynets’s life is an important example for workers in Ukraine and the United States. He was born in the coal-rich Donetsk region of Ukraine. He worked for six years underground as a miner and later became a mining engineer. In 1985, he was elected Chair of his miners’ local and participated in the first miners’ strikes in 1989. He led a series of successful mass strikes in 1991 and founded the first independent trade union in Ukraine. He was elected Chairperson of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine in 1995 and President of the CFTUU in 1997. In 2002, Mikhail Volynets was elected a Deputy in the Ukrainian Parliament (Rada) on the national slate of the Opposition Block. As a Deputy in the Ukrainian Rada, he has introduced legislation to update the labor law to comply with ILO Conventions and the Constitution of Ukraine.
President Volynets and the CFTUU are a beacon of hope for the people of the Ukraine. The Confederation is an inspiration and a rare source of help in the face of repression and lawlessness. The Confederation's commitment to independence, democracy and justice and its courageous willingness to speak truth to power are inspirations to all workers facing intimidation and terror.