SUR Council: attracting young people to the trade union is an important task

The Council of the Seafarers Union of Russia held the meeting in presentia in Moscow on 14, April. During the meeting, the participants, leaders of the territorial and primary organizations of the SUR, approved the chairmen of the primary organizations following election conferences held in the regions, and considered the issue of preparing for the next IX congress of the SUR. But due to the restrictions in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the format of the forum is still in question. The charter of the trade union does not provide the remote participation, and according to the law on non-profit organizations, which include trade unions, it is impossible to hold elections of collegial bodies (management bodies) in such a mode. However, last year, due to the difficult epidemiological situation the Federal Law No. 166-FZ of June 8, 2020 «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in order to take urgent measures aimed at ensuring sustainable economic development and preventing the consequences of the spread of a new coronavirus infection» was adopted, so it was allowed that the decisions of the supreme governing body of a non-profit organization may be taken by absent voting, regardless of whether the charter of the non-profit organization contains the procedure for absent voting. But this law does not apply to the current year and it is not yet known whether it will be extended.

The members of the Council of the SUR decided that the Congress will be held in the first decade of November in St. Petersburg. However, the final decision will be made at the September meeting of the Council.

Artym Boev, the Chairman of the SUR primary trade union organization of seafarers of Sevastopol, spoke about the Youth Council of the SUR, of which he is the coordinator. He recalled that the decision to create the Youth Council was made at the trade union youth forum held on November 25-26, 2019 in St. Petersburg. It was attended by 30 young delegates from the primary and territorial organizations of the SUR, as well as representatives of the Dockers Union of Russia, the Russian Labor Confederation, the Croatian Seafarers' Union, representatives of the youth committees of the ETF and the ITF.

The Youth Council is included representatives of the SUR from the North-Western Federal District (St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad), the Central Federal District (Moscow), the Far Eastern Federal District (Nakhodka, Vladivostok), and the Southern Federal District (Novorossiysk) in the number of 10 people. The tasks of the YC include organizing work with cadets of maritime specialized educational institutions at the regional level to attract them to the trade union as activists, creating a reserve of young seafarers.

As the Chairman of the Seafarers Union of Russia, Yuri Sukhorukov noted, the work on attracting young people to the trade union is a strategically very important task, the solution of which cannot be delayed.