Trade union education and union strategy. Renewing agricultural unions in Moldova, the Ukraine and Russia
Trade union education and union strategy. Renewing agricultural unions in Moldova, the Ukraine and Russia

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the positions of the main agricultural and food unions in Moldova and the Ukraine, and how they have used trade union education to address strategic problems. The article falls broadly into two parts. The first outlines these unions’ difficult circumstances and briefly examines the strategic options open to them. The second focuses on the educational work of the Moldovan union Agroindsynd. The union’s international links have been relevant to the expansion of its educational work and these are examined in a final section. The article shows that these unions have retained sizeable memberships. In general, in addition to a white-collar membership, the unions concerned organise two rather different groups of workers: food producers and food processors. Those employed in food processing tend to show higher levels of involvement and mobilisation than do agricultural workers. Both groups of union headquarters suffer from poor levels of subscription income, but this is much worse in the Ukraine than in Moldova. The Moldovan unions, and the largest in particular, have been relatively open to external influences and are using trade union education to develop their activist base. The aim is to build their bargaining and campaigning potential to compensate for a reduction in full-time salaried officers. The relevant international trade union organisation, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), is important in encouraging cross-border collaboration between the two countries’ unions.

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