Deepening trade union partnership for a better future

On July 13, a regular plenary session of the BRICS Trade Union Forum was held via videoconference, chaired by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and under the theme"Deepening partnership for a better future".

The Forum was attended by delegations of national trade union centers of all five BRICS countries, as well as representatives of trade unions of Argentina, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, Cambodia, Mexico, Nigeria and Uzbekistan invited by the organizers as observers.

On behalf of the Russian trade unions, Mikhail Shmakov, Chairman of the FNPR, addressed the delegates and guests of the Forum, who in his greeting noted that: "the world will not remain the same as it was yesterday. Changes are inevitable, they are continuous and give us the opportunity to change the world for the better. This is facilitated by international cooperation with countries that share the principles of respectful and mutually beneficial cooperation."

The keynote speaker was Professor Chang Jian of Nankai University, who revealed and substantiated the ideas of Chinese trade unions to overcome the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

The national reports and speeches made contained similar assessments of the current crisis situation caused by the pandemic. They noted increased tension in the labor market; negative or zero economic growth; falling incomes of the working population; difficulties in legislative support of new forms of employment that have not yet been overcome; problems with retraining and advanced training of workers who have been under pandemic restrictions for a long time, and other topical issues.