It should be noted that the draft Labour Code provides for a separate article
devoted to the basic principles of labour regulation. Thus, Art. 4 of the draft Labour
Code contains 21 basic principles of labour regulation, among which are the principles,
which have been internationally recognized as fundamental, including the following:
prohibition of forced labor; abolition of child labour; prohibition of discrimination at
work and enforcement of the right of people who suffered such discrimination to appeal
to the court for establishing a fact of such discrimination and its elimination, as well as
compensation for the damage caused by discrimination; protection of the employees’
and employers’ right to freedom of association for the purpose of defending their rights
and interests; promotion of collective bargaining with the aim of concluding collective
agreements.
However, only two of the major international labour standards are reflected
further. These are, namely, non-discrimination in employment and occupation and
prohibition of forced labor. Therefore, not all the basic principles mentioned in the
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up
(1998) received proper consolidation at the international standards level in the articles
of the draft Labour Code, which adversely affects their proper implementation and
stability of their functioning in the system of labour law. It is, therefore, necessary to
include into the Labor Code of Ukraine certain provisions regarding identifying the
content of labour regulation principles recognised by the world’s community as
fundamental at the international level.
Considering the implementation of fundamental principles, it should be noted that
both within the current legislation and in the draft Labour Code of Ukraine the principle
of freedom of association and real recognition of the right to collective bargaining is
most thoroughly established. Proper establishment and adherence to the principle of
freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining is essential for economic
development, and thereby for increasing productivity. Thus, K. D. Krylov in a separate
work defined the freedom of association and recognition of the right to collective
bargaining among the four "fundamental principles and rights" as "the top-priority
fundamental principle" [6, p. 51].
The right of all workers to form organisations of their choice and to join them in
order to set out and protect their interests was reflected in para. 4 of the Art. 23 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) which stipulates that everyone has the
right to form trade unions and to join trade unions for the protection of his/her interests.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for the right to freedom
of association, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of
one’s interests (para. 1 Art. 22). Further development of the right to freedom of
association as an international standard is shown in the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which proclaims the right of everyone to form
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