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The Committee notes the communication from the Independent Trade Union of Miners (NPG) and the information provided by the Government in this respect.

The Committee notes the NPG's statement that the management of the N.P. Bakarov Mine in Krasnodon, violates the provisions of the Convention, the national legislation and the collective agreement and discriminates against the trade union's leaders and its members. In particular, the NPG states that: (1) contracts are offered to employees who guarantee that they will not become members of the NPG; (2) NPG members are the first to be dismissed when dismissals occur; (3) mine managers' salaries are dependent upon a decrease in the number of NPG members; (4) salaries have not been paid to NPG leaders over a significant period of time and a certain number of trade union leaders have been unlawfully dismissed; (5) the management has taken a decision to shut down the NPG office; (6) miners did not receive wages over a period of several months in 1996, 1997 and 1998. According to the NPG, following the trade union picket of Lugansk administrative authority offices in July 1997, demanding the authority's compliance with the Ukrainian Constitution, labour legislation and the collective agreement, the Lugansk administrative authorities gave their assurance that, in future, they would comply with the above legal provisions and agreements, which has not proved to be the case; representatives from the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of the Coal Industry visited the enterprise without investigating the violations of miners' rights.

The Committee notes the Government's statement that officials of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of the Coal Industry visited Bakarov Mine to verify the information provided by the NPG in respect of the violations of Conventions Nos. 87 and 98. Similarly, the Committee notes with interest the Government's statement that the NPG and the mine's management have concluded a collective agreement which requires the management to provide the necessary conditions for the NPG to carry out its activities, including the following provisions: to grant NPG members access to the workplace; to receive information relative to the enterprise's activities; to grant trade union leaders paid leave to carry out their activities; to supply facilities to the NPG; to apply the same rules on the payment of wages, recruitment, dismissal, annual leave and shifts to all workers regardless of whether they are trade union members; the agreement on vacations and redundancy plans for dismissal between the mine management and the trade union, in accordance with the legislation in force. Finally, the Committee notes the Government's information that the other allegations made by the NPG do not constitute violations of the Ukrainian legislation and that the NPG signed other collective agreements in 1997 and 1998.

The Committee regrets the fact that the Government has not provided detailed information on the specific acts of discrimination alleged by the NPG (recruitment subject to non-membership of the trade union, dismissal of trade union leaders and members, etc.). The Committee requests the Government to carry out expeditiously a thorough investigation in this respect and to take the necessary measures to remedy the acts of discrimination which it concludes have occurred. The Committee requests the Government to ensure that the practices of N.P. Bakarov Mine and Krasnodon enterprise are in conformity with Article 1 of the Convention.

The Committee asks the Government to ensure the unimpeded ability of the NPG representatives to participate in the joint representative body as required by section 4 of the Act on Collective Agreements and Accords, in conformity with the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention.

In conclusion, the Committee notes the Government's statement that Parliament is examining bills on trade unions and social partners to amend the Collective Agreements Act and that the Bill in respect of the settlement of collective disputes has been adopted in March 1998. The Committee requests the Government to inform it in its next report on the contents and developments in respect of the above bills and the content and application of the Law of March 1998.