Dear university employees! Due to exceptional circumstances that have appeared in our country as a result of providing of confrontation the spread of coronavirus, the reports this year are prepared remotely. But still, the university is working and functioning in a regular and a bit modified form. Teachers continue to teach, improve their distance learning courses and implement new forms of distant monitoring of academic performance.
Talking about current social and economic situation, 2019 and especially the beginning of 2020 appeared to be quite tight. The government changing at the end of August,2019 negatively affected the legislative initiatives on labor relations regulation and trade union activity, which was prepared and approved. An obvious incompetence and haste in presenting of "new" labor draft laws caused strong opposition from national trade unions in different fields and levels, the International Labor Organisation, as well as foreign organisations. Some of the offers list, which, due to the government's opinion, were supposed to "improve" the life of ordinary working people in Ukraine: the employer's right to dismiss an employee on his/her own initiative (without any significant reasons) or to terminate a short-term employment contract at any time, and give the employee 3 calendar days notice; opportunity to conclude employment contracts with unfixed working hours; the absence of any prohibition on dismissing of single mothers; implementation of extra fee for working overtime, 20% on holidays and weekends instead of double fee as before; unrestricted use of overtime work; abolition of certain types of holidays; abolition of days off guarantees; setting of a minimum salary which is lower than the subsistence level for capable people. The unprecedented pressure, the Trade Union Council and the "outrage wave" which went through all the regional centres of Ukraine and the capital caused the delay of consideration and, as a result, the withdrawal of draft laws as those that are not perceived by society and have no obvious economic basis.
The suspension of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Decree №822 "About remuneration of pedagogical, scientific and pedagogical, scientific workers of educational and scientific establishments" which hasn't even come into force yet, was another unpleasant surprise at the beginning of the new year. Today the decree entering into force is scheduled to be resumed on January 1, 2021, but it is obvious even now that the implementation of guarantees for education workers for a decent salary amount will not be realised within current realities. Another crisis is another cut in education financing.
These circumstances are the reason why the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Politechnic Institute devotes much of his time to defending the position of the university's employees in the public authorities as well as at the national level. On October 29, more than 20,000 educators gathered under the Kyiv municipal organisation of Trade Union of education and scientific workers of Ukraine building at the walls of the parliament demanding the withdrawal of draft laws on new criteria for higher education financing. The educators from all over the country provided the solidarity support of the action, and this allowed us all to achieve our goal confidently and quickly.
In return, the government has introduced a "formulaic" approach in financing higher education institutions at an accelerated pace without taking the position of labor groups into account. And using this formula he linked the financing of buildings maintenance, cleaning the universities territories, heating on the premises in winter to the achievements of universities in science and publication activity. But administrative buildings of state and local authorities are kept under separate budget items and do not depend on the country position or place in the international rankings! However, as well as the salaries of officials... Ukrainian innovations are as follows: it is possible to demand rating publications from scientific and pedagogical workers, and not to carry out the basic financing of science at the same time.
Due to the substantial optimisation of the educational programs at the departments as well as the corresponding accreditation, which will be conducted by an independent National Agency for Higher Assurance Quality. The trade union will monitor the strict following the law and social justice when considering the reduction of employees or transferring them to part time jobs. The practice of some departments resorting (sometimes under pressure) to equal rates lowering for all employees, regardless of their performance, should be left in the past. Particular attention should be paid to retention of young people and the highest ranked (by ministerial criteria) teachers at full pay rates.
According to a long-standing tradition, the campaign of collective agreements started at the university at the end of December, when a commission for checking the implementation of the existing collective agreement and the conclusion of the new one was set up. The commission comprised 20 representatives from the administration and trade union committees of workers and students. The practice of decentralised arrangements was also preserved during the collective agreements campaign at the faculties, educational and scientific institutes and structural units. Conferences and meetings of labor collectives were held at all faculties/institutes except Institute of Mechanical Engineering and College of Instrument Design and Engineering, as they were postponed due to quarantine.
This year the Vice-Rectors' and Chief Accountant's reports were reviewed and approved at the University's Academic Council in January and March. Thus, most university chairmen reported on their work during the year, as required by applicable law.
Summarising results of the units collective agreements decrees and the general University Collective Agreement decree implementation, the following conclusion can be made: their sections in general are executed, as evidenced by the relevant acts signed by the representatives of the administrative and trade union parties. The agreement on labor protection is in general fulfilled, except for item 9, concerning the toilets repairing in the 22nd educational building. This item has been moved to the Occupational Safety Agreement for the following period.
The university financing for protected articles in 2019 has been stable, with some departments improving their revenue through the special fund. Salaries were paid on time and in full. According to the Regulations, fees for academic degrees and academic titles, as well as for years of service, were paid.
Over the past year the trade union statutory activities were aimed at implementing measures of material support, social and rights protection, representing the interests of employees in the university commissions and councils, organising cultural, mass and sports and mass events and, of course, improving the employees' and their families' health. This is especially important considering the significant increase in the amount of days of temporary working disability among university staff. So in 2019, compared to the previous one, the amount of such days increased by almost 14%.
In total, more than 480 polytechnics took advantage of the opportunity to relax in the university's health complexes during the summer period last year, showing an increase of almost 20%, as compared to the previous year. The administration and trade union efforts consolidation has made it possible to reduce the cost of vouchers by 1100 UAH to employees, their children and grandchildren. This year, the issue of summer health improvement at university campuses remains being open in connection with the quarantine situation, but in any case, as the cost of tickets increases, the amount of compensation will increase, too. In 2019, support for the material and technical base of the university health improvement complexes continued. A variety of tools and equipment was bought for "Mayak" and "Polytechnic" on a total sum of over 60 thousand UAH.
Last year the trade union continued to implement the program of sanatorium and spa treatment for university employees according to medical indicators using its own resources. 49 people received a 50% discount on the rehabilitation course of 12-14 days in the sanatoriums in Kyiv region, Morshyn, Kuyalnyk, Khmilnyk, Myrhorod, Truskavets and others. Organisational support was provided by the social insurance and health improvement commission.
Thanks to the cooperation with the tourist complexes network "Rest all year long" employees of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Politechnic Institute and their family members were able to use tourist excursion tours to Vorokhta and Truskavets with a 50% discount.
The children's rest was organised in the camps "Sonyachnyy bereh" in the Odessa region and "Verkhovyna" in Ivano-Frankivsk region for 40 children of university workers for vouchers provided by the Kyiv City Trade Union Organisation for a total sum of more than 380 thousand UAH. The parental fee was 20%. Thanks to the trade union's initiative, the sanatorium and spa treatment was resumed in sanatoriums for mothers and children at the health-improving institution "Medyk" in Odessa region. 10 vouchers were given to Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Politechnic Institute employees and their children in summer in 2019.
As usual, university employees have had the opportunity to maintain physical shape and to use the wellness facilities of the Centre for Physical Education and Sports free of charge according to a separate schedule of visits of certain sections. This year, the trade union extended the privilege of using the Centre for the children and grandchildren of the university staff, allowing 8 visits per month with a 50% discount. However, a very small amount of our employees took advantage of this opportunity.
The trade union continued to financially support various categories of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Politechnic Institute employees, including war and labor veterans: in 2019, we provided financial assistance to more than 2300 trade union members in the amount of 4 million 352 thousand UAH. Also, in 2019 loans to employees costing over 350 thousand UAH were granted under the guarantee of the trade union.
For 12 years now, the trade union has continued its fruitful cooperation with the Warsaw Polytechnic trade unions. Last year, 18 employees were able to use the cultural program of the Warsaw Polytechnic Recreation on the Baltic Sea, in the city of Sarbinowo, with a sightseeing tour of Gdansk. Another 22 children aged 10 to 14 years spent 12 days in Warsaw and in a recreation centre in the mountain town of Grybow. On a parity basis, Polish colleagues visited Ukraine in the spring and autumn under the program "Theater Kyiv", organised by the committee on international cooperation of the trade union.
The efficiency of the trade union children's committee not only allowed to support children's health improvement and recreation in 2019, but also to organise numerous events, including a theater quest at the National Operetta, theater visits and so on. Thanks to the University's Centre of Culture and Arts leadership, a New Year's children's show has been organised for more than 800 child workers for the 3rd time in a row. The trade union will support and continue to financially support the creative teams of the Centre instead. Last year such assistance was provided in the amount of 54 thousand UAH.
There were also numerous cultural events organised by the proper trade union committee and the trade union bureau of the divisions. About 450 employees visited cultural heritage places in Sumy, Uman, Mukachevo, Bila Tserkva, Chernivtsi, Korosten, Vinnytsia in 2019. Around 790 theater tickets were also distributed.
Up-to-date information on the activities of the trade union can be found on the website and social media.
Спортивно-масова комісія організувала традиційні різдвяний та літній турніри на Кубок профкому, започаткувала дитячі різдвяні змагання з футзалу, підтримувала волейбольну команду ветеранів. У лютому 2020 року на високому рівні пройшов третій турнір з мініфутболу, присвячений пам'яті багаторічного голови профкому В.І. Молчанова. Загалом спортивних заходів було підтримано на суму більш ніж 40 тис. грн.
Підбиваючи підсумки зазначу, що профспілковий комітет при розгляді реалізації Колективного договору за минулий період констатував, що адміністрація університету та адміністрації підрозділів дотримувалися його положень, і тому рекомендує прийняти звіти адміністрації та профкомів про виконання положень Колективного договору університету за період з квітня 2019 р. по квітень 2020 р.
The sports and mass commission organised the traditional Christmas and summer tournaments for the Trade Union Cup, started children's Futsal Christmas competitions, supported the veterans' volleyball team. The third minifootball tournament dedicated to the memory of the long-time head of the trade union V.I. Molchanov took place at a high level in February,2020. In total, it was spent more than 40 thousand UAH for sports events supporting.
To sum up, I would like to mention that the trade union committee in reviewing the Collective Agreement implementation for the past period found that the university and departments administration adhered to its decrees and recommends to accept the administration's and trade unions' reports on the implementation of the provisions of the April 2019 - April 2020 University Collective Agreement.
Thank you for your attention!