Kostyukovichi became the venue for a large-scale off-site meeting of the Presidium of the Council of the Mogilev Regional Union of Trade Unions, which took place on October 21. The day's program was intense: participants in the extensive event visited the Kostyukovichi Water Canal branch of the UPKP VKH Mogilevoblvodokanal and the OAO Belarusian Cement Plant.

The key issue on the agenda was the topic "On the work being done to conclude collective agreements in organizations of the Mogilev Region".

The off-site meeting was attended by members of the Presidium of the Council of the Mogilev Regional Union of Trade Unions, representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, chairmen of regional organizations of industry trade unions, chairmen of united primary trade union organizations, the department for work with trade union organizations, and representatives of the media. There were 40 participants in total.

The first facility visited by the participants was the Kostyukovichi Water Canal branch of the UPKP VKH Mogilevoblvodokanal. The meeting was attended by the Chairman of the Kostyukovichi District Executive Committee Natalya Osmolovskaya, the Chairman of the Regional Union of Trade Unions Igor Stankievich, the General Director of the Unitary Production and Communal Enterprise of the Water and Sewerage Economy Mogilevoblvodokanal Nikolai Kravtsov, and the Director of the Kostyukovichi Water Canal branch of the UPKP VKH Mogilevoblvodokanal S.A. Korolev.

The agenda included the following questions: "On trade union experience and best practices for applying collective agreements in the sphere of labor and social relations by organizations of the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers in the Housing and Communal Services and Service Sector", "On increasing the role of collective agreements in ensuring social and labor guarantees for workers of the Kostyukovichi Water Canal branch of the UPKP VKH Mogilevoblvodokanal".

As part of the Week of Parental Love, the Chairman of the Mogilev Regional Union of Trade Unions Igor Stankievich congratulated all men on Father's Day. Special words were addressed to a multi-child father, a fitter of emergency restoration work at the water and sewerage department of the Kostyukovichi water canal, Alexander Petrovich Lyzikov, who has been working at the enterprise for 24 years. Alexander Petrovich is the father of seven children. Igor Stanislavovich presented the multi-child father with a commemorative gift, thanking him for his conscientious long-term work at the enterprise and expressing words of admiration for him.

The head of the district, Natalya Osmolovskaya, spoke about the importance of trade unions at the meeting:

The trade union plays an important role in people's lives, providing protection and support to workers in various fields of activity. The comfortable environment we create, the guarantees that were discussed at the meeting, are very important to people. A person comes to work with pleasure, they are confident in their future, because the trade union organization supports each of us.

Natalya Nikolaevna also joined in the congratulations to the fathers:

Being a real father is a great honor for a man. You are the protection, you are the support and the foundation of the family. Good health to you and your families. Raise your children, as they are the future of our country, be proud of them.

Then the participants of the event were warmly welcomed at the town-forming enterprise. The visit to the Belarusian Cement Plant began with an excursion to the exhibition exposition, which was opened for the 30th anniversary of the flagship of the cement industry in Belarus.

The history of the plant, the technological process of cement production, social conditions at the BCZ, the activities of the trade union and veteran organizations, sports life, labor dynasties, and young professionals were presented to the participants of the event by the general director of BCZ Evgeny Voloshchik, deputy director for ideological and social work Nina Dyliko, and chairman of the trade union organization of BCZ Alexander Listratenko.

During the event, great emphasis was placed on the role of the trade union activists in popularizing the collective agreement among young people. This was told to the participants of the event by Kirill Shustik, chairman of the Youth Council of the regional trade union association. Kirill Valerievich shared his impressions of the meeting with the chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Natalya Kochanova at the headquarters of the FBP with the trade union activists of the country, which took place on September 15 of this year.

The participants of the off-site meeting also went on an excursion to the "Vyssokoe" quarry. The scale of marl extraction, the raw material for cement production, impressed the regional trade union leaders. After the interesting and informative excursions, the meeting of the Presidium of the Mogilev Regional Union of Trade Unions considered the issues on the agenda. They discussed the work on concluding collective agreements in regional organizations, the results of monitoring trade union discipline in primary trade union organizations, the results of sanatorium and resort treatment and rehabilitation, the results of monitoring the readiness of enterprises and organizations for work in the autumn-winter period, as well as the work on improving the effectiveness of public control over compliance with labor protection legislation.

There was also a solemn moment at the meeting. As part of the Week of Parental Love, all male participants of the off-site event were warmly and sincerely congratulated on Father's Day. And Alexander Anatolyevich Frolenkov, a worker at the BCZ, a conveyor operator at the fuel and energy department, whose family is raising seven minor children, was awarded commemorative gifts. Being the father of a large family is a daily hard work, a great responsibility. The Chairman of the Kostyukovichi District Executive Committee, Natalya Osmolovskaya, the General Director of BCZ, Evgeny Voloshchik, and the Deputy Chairman of the Mogilev Regional Union of Trade Unions, Tatyana Laukmanis, congratulated the father of a large family on the holiday, wishing the family good health, well-being, and peaceful skies above.

The off-site meeting in Kostyukovichi once again confirmed that the dialogue between the authorities, employers, and trade unions remains the most effective tool for protecting the interests of working people.

Svetlana Savchenko

Photo by the author