Workers' Liberty

I attended the first ever Social Forum in Kiev, Ukraine. Called by a coalition of Ukrainian independent trade unions and left wing groups for 1 and 2 May 2008 it included speakers from trade unions, and the anti-fascist movement, and special guest Dashty Jamal, an Iraqi trade unionist and refugee rights campaigner.

Following an international solidarity campaign, Volodymyr Demyan has been reinstated by Metro Cash & Carry, and his union, "Defence of Labour", is resuming negotiations for a collective agreement.

On 12 December 2007 Vladimir Demyan, a trade union leader and the chairperson of Protection of Labour [Zaschita Truda] a Kyiv independent union, technician for electrical installations at the Commercial Centre 16 of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine (part of the METRO Group multinational holding company headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany) was unlawfully dismissed in Kyiv.