Dear colleagues and friends in Ukraine,

Today marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of your country. Four years of loss, destruction, and suffering that continue to shape every aspect of daily life and work. On this anniversary, we write to you in solidarity, respect, and friendship.

Since Ukrainian industrial trade unions joined industriAll Europe in early 2023, we got to know one another. Your active participation in our meetings, conferences, and sectoral work has brought us closer as colleagues and as Europeans. Through these exchanges, we have heard first-hand about the reality in Ukraine — not from reports alone, but directly from those living and organising under the conditions of war.

We know that Ukrainian workers are paying an unbearable price. Many of your members are fighting at the front. Too many have lost their lives. Despite this situation, you continue to keep the economy and essential services running under constant threat, power cuts, shortages, and uncertainty. Many are forced to endure separation from loved ones who have fled the country. At the same time, women have increasingly stepped into industrial roles while also carrying heavy social and care burdens at home and in their communities. 

Trade unions continue to represent workers, defend rights, and support members and communities in circumstances that no union should ever have to face. 

Yet workers and their trade unions are also facing attacks at the workplace, with employers increasingly using the war as a pretext to curb workers’ rights. Foreign companies are applying anti-union practices and approaches that run counter to the EU social model and European-headquartered companies are playing a particularly shameful role in this respect.

Against this background, we are deeply impressed by your courage, dignity and determination. 

We are also impressed by your openness and determination to learning about Europe, about social dialogue, and about the role trade unions play in shaping democratic and fair societies. Even in wartime, you engage actively for a time beyond war with your participation in discussions on collective bargaining, social standards, and negotiated solutions to conflict. This commitment to dialogue, rather than force, reflects values that are at the heart of the European trade union movement.

What has moved us deeply is the courage and determination you show. In conversations with you, there is little complaint and much resolve. There is a focus on getting through the day, on small signs of hope, and on refusing to let fear define daily life. We have seen this spirit in many forms, including a recent moment shared by one of our colleagues: people dancing in Kyiv, against the cold and against fear. This defiance speaks volumes.

You see yourselves as Europeans, committed to social dialogue, democracy, and the belief that conflicts must be resolved through negotiation, not force. You want Ukraine to be rebuilt with the involvement of European industry — under European social standards, with strong labour rights and collective bargaining. This is a vision we share.

As part of the European trade union family, you are not alone. We will continue to listen, to speak out, to stand with you in solidarity and to defend your place in Europe. Now and in the future.

With respect and unwavering support,

IndustriAll Europe

*Our Ukranian members

Automobile and Agricultural Machinery Workers Union of Ukraine - AAMWU
Nuclear Power and Industry Workers Union of Ukraine - Atomprofspilka
Trade Union of Chemical and Petrochemical Industries Workers of Ukraine – CPCIW
Trade Union of Mechanical Engineering and Metalworking workers of Ukraine – MASHMETAL
Trade Union of Machine-Builders and Instruments-Makers of Ukraine - Mashprilad
Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine – NPGU
Trade Union of the Metalworkers and Miners of Ukraine – PMGU
Trade Union of Defence Industry Workers of Ukraine - POU
Radio Electronics & Mechanical Engineering Workers' Trade Union of Ukraine – REMEWU
Trade Union of Aircraft and Machine building workers of Ukraine – TUAMBWU
Trade Union of Coal Industry workers of Ukraine – TUCIWU
Energy and Electro-technical industry workers’ union of Ukraine – UKRELECTROPROFSPILKA
Oil and Gas Industry Workers' Union of Ukraine - UKRNAFTOGAZPROFSPILKA