2 – Repeated violations of rights
The ITUC Global Rights Index

Moldova

In practice

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Attacks on trade union property and interference in trade union affairs21-12-2021

A parliamentary commission was established under resolution no. 11 of 13 February 2020 to enquire into the alienation of trade union properties as part of matters arising from Moldova’s independence in 1993. Curiously, however, this attempt comes over two decades after Moldova’s post-independence constitution guaranteed the private property rights of legal persons in Moldova, including trade unions, without any exception.
Though the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) submitted a request to the president of the Parliament of Moldova to be engaged in the matter, the president refused. This refusal is clearly against the right of trade unions to be consulted on all matters that directly affect the exercise of their rights, including their property rights.
CNSM has rightly raised the issue of fundamental legal flaws with the work of the commission and its report as submitted and has demanded that the report of the commission be set aside without further delay.

Employers withholding union dues in the agricultural sector31-12-2019

According to the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova, the total amount of debts in the form of trade union dues not transferred to AGROINDSIND (the National Trade Union Federation of Agriculture and Food) amounted to 7,396,118 lei in 2019. The Federation has instituted legal proceedings.

Unilateral changes to collectively agreed labour contracts02-08-2019

According to the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM), in 2018, in the social services sector and the manufacture-of-goods sector, employers, including Î.M. Gospodăria Locativ Comunală and Joint-Venture “Housing and Utilities Services”, unilaterally changed some provisions of the collective labour contracts.

Withholding of union dues21-02-2018

According to the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova, during the year it recorded a number of cases of withholding of union dues, in several sectors, such as the construction sector, the light industry, the railway industry and the public sector (social services).

First-level union disbanded at Bălţeanca21-02-2018

According to the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova, Bălţeanca, a women’s apparel retailer, abusively disbanded the company’s trade union at the request of its major shareholder, a German company. The first-level union counted around 325 members in the company.

Establishment of a pro-employer union to undermine collective bargaining29-03-2017

On 29 March 2017 the State Enterprise Fabrica de sticlă din Chișinău concluded a collective agreement with a bogus union set up to bypass collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
.
A representative union already existed in the State Entreprise. Established decades ago, it counted 186 members while at the time of its creation in 2016, the bogus union counted only 25 members.

On 20 March 2017 the administration of the State Entreprise initiated negotiations with each trade union organisation and nine days later, it concluded a new collective agreement with the newly formed union for the period 2017-2020. As a result the administration ceased all negotiations with the representative union.

Charges against trade unionists28-02-2013

In February 2013, the court ruled that the action of blocking factory gates to ensure that sugar was not removed was not directed against Goldeni sugar factory but at protecting workers’ rights. Union Chair Vasilii Guleac, Vice Chair Valentina Semeniuc and Anatolie Furtuna, Fiodor Svoevolin and Victor Colibaba had been charged with offences that could have led to prison sentences of between 3 and 8 years.

In practice31-10-2011

The creation of new unions remains a problem due to the employers’ resistance. Collective agreements are mainly signed at enterprises having a long history of collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
. Legislative enforcement remains weak. Neither labour inspectorates nor prosecutors’ offices have been effective in monitoring and enforcing labour standards, especially the right to organise.

Issues in the ILO complaint still unresolved30-11-2009

In 2004, repeated and systematic interference by the public authorities led a number of Moldovan trade unions, supported by the ICFTU (predecessor of the ITUC), the IUF and PSI to lodge a formal complaint to the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
Committee on Freedom of Association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
(CFA). In June, after having examined the case a number of times, the CFA noted with regret that the government had still failed to address the issues mentioned in the complaint. The alleged acts of interference by the government and employers in trade unions’ internal affairs had not been investigated and the legislation had not been amended. In addition, a new case concerning the refusal to register a trade union in 2007-2008 had not been properly addressed.

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