Trade unions in Armenia

Trade unions in Armenia are afforded the right to organize by the Armenian Constitution. In Armenia the first trade unions were formed in 1905-1907 in Yerevan, Alexandropol, Kars, Alaverdi. In 1905 the trade union of home-workers was formed in Yerevan. In 1906 the trade unions of the tanner-workers (Yerevan), the rail-way workers (Alexandropol, Kars), the miners (Alaverdi), the typists, the bakers, the post-office workers (Yerevan) were formed. In Armenia the trade unions began to be spread on a mass scale in 1921. On 6 February 1921 in Yerevan at the first Conference the Council of trade unions of Armenia was formed and G.Azatyan was elected the first secretary, G.Anesoglyan was elected secretary. In the summer 1921 provincial trade union bureaus were formed in Alexandropol, Bayazet, Dilizhan, Karaklis, Yerevan. In 1921 16 000 industrial and office workers affiliated in the trade unions. The primary trade union centre is the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia (CTUA), which is the reconstituted remains of the former Soviet trade union structure. The 18-th Congress of trade unions of Armenia (1992) which was attended by 335 delegates, especially mentioned the fact that the principles of democratic centralism as well as command methods of governing no longer correspond to the changed conditions, new labour relations and the democracy development. On the assumption of these facts 24 branch republican trade unions signed the Declaration on the foundation of the Confederation of trade unions of Armenia. The Congress came to the decision to preserve the delegates and working bodies of the 18-th Congress in the same position as they had been – the delegates and the working bodies of the 1-st Congress of the Confederation of trade unions of Armenia.The chairpersons of the 24 branch republican trade unions signed the Declaration on the foundation of the Confederation of trade unions of Armenia. The Congress approved the fundamental principles of the foundation and the procedure of the activity, the Regulations for the Auditing Commission. On 29 April 1997 the 2-d Congress of the Confederation of trade unions of Armenia took place which considered the report of the Council of the Confederation of trade unions of Armenia on the activity carried out between the 1-st and 2-d Congresses. On 23 November 2012 the 3-d Congress of the Confederation of trade unions of Armenia was held. Eduard Tumasyan was reelected Chairman of the CTUA, Boris Kharatyan and Khachik Arakelyan were reelected Deputy Chairmen. Unions which are involved in state run enterprises still benefit from check-off dues, but organization and strike action in the private sector is more subdued, in part because of a lack of protection against reprisals.[1]