On February 18, 2020, at the Headquarters of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, the VII Congress of the Belarussian Trade Union of Workers in the Chemical, Mining and Oil Industries (Belhimprofsoyuz) was held.

The Congress was attended by over 250 participants: delegates representing the country's petrochemical and mining complexes, guests from the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, the Belneftekhim concern, the Republican Association of Industrial Enterprises BelAPP, the International Confederation of oil, gas and construction union workers, represented by its President Alexander Korchagin, and International Association of Chemists, trade unions of Austria, Azerbaijan, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, coordinator of the Global Union IndustryALL, representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus, enterprise managers, trade union veterans and chairmen of trade union committees as non delegates.

The Congress summed up the work of the Belhimprofsoyuz over the past 5 years, the current members of which are almost 143 thousand people. As it was said at the Congress, in the framework of the report on the activities of the governing bodies of the trade union, 144 new primary organizations appeared during this period.

The work of the Belhimprofsoyuz on the protection of labor rights and the socio-economic interests of workers was based on the norms of the General Agreement, the Tariff Agreement in the Belneftekhim concern system and 138 collective agreements of organizations. “The Tariff Agreement has introduced more than 40 new provisions that provide employees with additional rights and guarantees. Many new standards relate to the protection of workers ’rights when restructuring enterprises, extending labor relations, and improving the skills of workers” said Svetlana Klochok, the Belhimprofsoyuz President.

It was also noted separately that the amount of additional payments and compensations to the employee, made on average over the month in excess of legislation in accordance with the collective agreement, has significantly increased in recent years. If in 2015 it amounted to 194.5 rubles, then in 2019 - 251.8 Belarusian rubles. The congress delegates were convincingly assured that systematic work to control the level of wages, timeliness of their payment and other problematic issues in the organizations of the industry was also carried out.

The actual nominal average monthly wage of employees of all organizations registered with the Belkhimprofsoyuz increased during the reporting period, taking into account inflation, by 63%. “In the industry over the past 5 years, good indicators of wage growth have been provided. A further increase can only be with an increase in labor productivity, otherwise inflation will unwind. Labor productivity can be increased due to 2 major factors: modernization of production and advanced training of workers. Modernization of production in your industry is quite active. And it is extremely important to carry out training and professional development of employees with it” said Mikhail Orda, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus.

President of the International Confederation of oil, gas and construction workers unions and the ROGWU President Aleksandr Korchagin in his welcoming speech congratulated the Congress delegates on the centenary of the founding of the Belhimprofsoyuz, informed about the main areas of activity of the International Confederation and the ROGWU expressed confidence in the continuation of fruitful  cooperation at the site of the International Confederation.

Concluding its work, the Congress elected a new composition of governing bodies, including Svetlana  Klochok again reelected as President of the Belarusian trade union of workers in the chemical, mining and oil industries.