Major union confederation discusses possible reorganisation

In December 2006, the Council of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK) met to discuss the development of social dialogue. The meeting considered LPSK’s proposed activities for the coming years, as well as its follow-up plan in relation to the demands put before the employers and government in November 2006. The Council also focused on matters of internal reorganisation in LPSK.

Changing trade union landscape

In recent years, the largest Lithuanian trade union organisation at national level – the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (Lietuvos profesiniu sajungu konfederacija, LPSK) – has undergone considerable change. In 2005, the longstanding Chair of LPSK and Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas, LRS), Algirdas Sysas, was replaced by Arturas Cerniauskas, who previously led the Lithuanian Trade Union of Police Employees (Lietuvos vidaus reikalu sistemos respublikine profesine sajunga, VRSPS). In 2005–2006, a number of projects financed by the European Social Fund were initiated in Lithuania, aimed at the development of social dialogue. LPSK and its sectoral organisations are actively participating in these projects (LT0609019I).

Meanwhile, the scope of LPSK’s activities has been expanding. In addition to issues traditionally raised by trade unions with regard to increasing the minimum wage and tax free allowance, negotiating on working hours and other matters (LT0611029I), the trade unions are increasingly including on their agenda issues that have not been characteristic up to now, such as social assistance, indexing of old-age pensions and social benefits.

Furthermore, in 2006, LPSK initiated a discussion among the Lithuanian trade unions concerning their possible unification and the establishment of a united centre of trade unions (LT0612019I). In the same year, the confederation also discussed major internal issues, such as the restructuring of LPSK (LT0701029I).

LPSK council meeting

On 21 December 2006, a summit meeting of the LPSK Council discussed various social, economic and social dialogue concerns of recent years. The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Rimantas Šadžius, who presented national and municipal budget indicators for 2007, as well as speaking about the possibilities of increasing the minimum wage and tax free allowance more rapidly in the coming years. Moreover, the trade union representatives along with Mr Šadžius took the opportunity to consider the future activity of the Tripartite Council of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Trišale taryba, LRTT).

Proposed restructuring of organisation

At the summit meeting, the councillors discussed further issues of intrinsic importance to the LPSK, primarily the restructuring of the confederation. The President of the Trade Union of Lithuanian Food Producers (Lietuvos maistininku profesine sajunga, LMPS), Gražina Gruzdiene, introduced her proposal on concentrating membership fees in sectoral organisations and a gradual switch to a model of direct membership, where employees are admitted to sectoral trade unions directly instead of joining company-level trade unions (LT0701029I). LPSK’s Chair, Mr Cerniauskas, also explained his vision for the confederation, namely the formation of strong regional structures as soon as possible.

Need to define minimum sectoral fee

A recurring topic at the Council meeting was the need to define a minimum sectoral fee as part of the internal reorganisation of LPSK. Currently, no quantitative restrictions are set for sectoral trade union organisations in Lithuania or within LPSK. This has resulted in a situation whereby sectors representing several hundreds of members and those gathering more than 10,000 members are equally represented at the Council and the Board of the LPSK. The meeting discussed the proposal of Mr Cerniauskas to set a minimum fee per sector. In this case, each sectoral organisation, irrespective of the number of its members, should pay membership fees for at least 2,000 members in order to have voting rights on the Board.

Understandably, the sectors with a large organisational base were pleased that this longstanding problem had been finally brought to light, while smaller economic sectors were unhappy about the change. According to the Secretary General of LPSK, Janina Matuiziene, the introduction of a minimum membership fee would strengthen membership and encourage sectoral organisations to form alliances before joining the confederation. In the end, it was decided to resolve this issue and vote on it at the next meeting of the LPSK Council, which was due to be held in early 2007.

Planned activities for 2006–2010

At the December meeting, the Council supported a draft plan for the implementation of LPSK’s activities in 2006–2010. It also considered the confederation’s further action plan following the submission of its demands to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybe, LRV) and to the employer organisations at the trade union rally in November 2006, having received responses from both sides (LT0611029I). At the meeting, it was announced that negotiations with the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (Lietuvos pramonininku konfederacija, LPK) had already started, but that LRV’s response was not acceptable to the trade unions. The councillors delegated the Board of LPSK to draft a detailed action plan taking into consideration the proposals made at the meeting.

The Council meeting also supported the aforementioned idea of joining the other two national trade union organisations to form one consolidated confederation in Lithuania.

Inga Blažiene, Institute of Labour and Social Research