The Belarusian Radio and Electronic Workers' Union (REP) is launching a campaign "FOR contract-free Belarus." The union leaders are sure that the problem of mass application of fixed-term contracts should be resolved before the country launches the process of systemic privatization. Otherwise, new owners will use the system to get rid – quickly and legally – of unwanted workers.

"We want to get people ready for struggling against their fixed-term contracts," Gennady Fedynich, chairman of the REP Trade Union, said about the aim of the campaign. "We'd like to explain people that a contract, that is – a short-term labour agreement, – is a non-standard form of employment, which is combated by workers all over the world. According to international norms, fixed-term contracts can be concluded only with special categories of workers; while in Belarus almost all the capable population of the country works under such contracts."

In the opinion of the union leader, it is important to solve the problem of fixed-term contracts before the start of the full-scale process of privatization.

"Nobody already doubts that it will happen," Mr Fedynich believes. "The owner comes, and he won't need 27,000 MAZ (Minsk Automobile Works) workers; or at other enterprises. There's no doubt that the employer will reduce the staff. Why should he pay wages to the workers, who can't be loaded with job? It's obvious. And they'll get rid of excess labour force by means of contracts. Should the workers have been under termless contracts, they could at least have received their dismissal allowances."

The union leader has noted that campaign will go beyond a number of actions. Activists will hold an information and explanatory work among workers, organize pickets, rallies and meetings. The REP Trade Union plans to receive feedback – to run polling, in order to have a clear idea about people's attitude to the problem of mass fixed-term contracts.

"We plan to use several methods of drawing public attention to the problem for a rather long time," Gennady Fedynich has added.

According to his story, a great attention will be given to the recent Decree No. 164, according to which an employer may transfer his conscientious worker to a termless labour contract.

"We want to explain everybody – from engineer to teacher – that Decree No. 164 changes nothing; saying figuratively, they lubricated the old choker with fresh soap," Mr Fedynich has explained. "By passing Decree No. 164, the authorities tried to 'brush up' Decree No. 29. Now, they undertake an energetic attempt, including through mass media, to convince people that Decree No. 164 will allegedly make the life of workers better."

"Maybe someone will give in to this dodge of the authorities, hoping that he or she will win a termless contract. However, Decree No. 29 also fixed only the right, not the duty, to conclude contracts. But when the authorities later told employers that they 'should switch over to contracts', the latter perceived it as a duty. Therefore, there's no doubt – Decree No. 164 will not relieve worker from their contract choke," the union leader has emphasized.

He is sure that the initiative will be supported by labour collectives.

"Some people say here that after switchover to contracts, because working conditions worsened, salaries went up by 30 percent. But in fact such enterprises are very few, only 2 percent over the whole country," the chairman of the REP Trade Union asserts. We have what to answer to this argument either: if the enterprise can pay extra 30 percent to contract workers, these money can be entered into the salary fund to increase wages to those under termless contracts in the form of premiums or bonuses. This problem is easily solved."

The REP Trade Union has always stood for the overwhelming majority of Belarusians work under termless labour contracts.

In 2007, REP activists held a broad-scale campaign against mass use of the fixed-term contract system.

Then, an initiative group was set up to sign-in a petition in favour of cancellation of Decree No. 29. However, the authorities refused to register it saying that citizens' legislative initiative may initiate changes of the laws, for example, provisions of the Labour Code; while President's Decree have supreme legal force and can be changed by the President only.

"In 2007, we tried to lawfully initiate amendments to the legislation aiming to relieve Belarusians from the burden of the slavish contract system," said Gennady Fedynich. "But we were told that a referendum is needed on the issue, it was President's Decree. In search of justice, we reached the Supreme Court. But in our country, unfortunately, there is no other power except for the presidential one – the Court refused to defend our constitutional right: the right to citizens' legislative initiative."

The trade-union leader is confident that within the three years that have elapsed after the previous campaign, Belarusians could obviously see the urgent need to cancel the universal use of the contract system. That is why, according to Gennady Fedynich, there is hope that the society will respond to the initiative of the trade union.

"We're sure that a fixed-term contract is nothing but servitude, it's a brake to a worker's professional progress. And people have already understood it," the chairman of the REP Trade Union has summed up.