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7 May 2024

By Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the All-Union Council for Workers' Control (VsSRK) is hereby established under the Ministry of Labour of the USSR.

The All-Union Council for Workers' Control of the USSR shall act as an impartial tribunal responsible for the day-to-day application and interpretation of the USSR's labour, labour safety, and labour protection laws. The role of the VsSRK is to interpret and apply the legislation governing collective bargaining including:

• How and under what conditions a trade union may claim the status of exclusive bargaining agent for a group of employees;

• How the employer and union must bargain to reach or renew a collective agreement;

• What kinds of union and employer conduct is prohibited; and

• When the parties may have recourse to a strike or lockout.

The VsSRK shall be comprised of representatives which shall include a chairperson, up to 5 vice-chairpersons, a general counsel and 32 other council members; and shall be elected by the delegates at the Congress of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, which convenes once every 5 years. Council members are to be elected for five-year terms, and the general counsel is to be appointed for a four-year term by the chairperson.

In broad terms, the general counsel is to be responsible for investigating and prosecuting unfair labour practice claims and for the general supervision of the VsSRK field offices. The general counsel is appointed by the chairman of the VsSRK to a four-year term and is independent from the Council.

The Council, on the other hand, is to act as the adjudicative body that decides the unfair labour practice cases brought to it. Once the Council has decided the issue, it shall be the general counsel's responsibility to uphold the Council's decision, even if it is contrary to the position it advocated when presenting the case to the Council.

The Council is also to be responsible for the administration of provisions governing the holding of elections of worker's councils in state and private enterprises, resolution of jurisdictional disputes, pension and social security disputes; as well as on work with especially harmful and especially difficult working conditions, compensation to citizens whom have suffered as a result of nuclear tests and the Chernobyl liquidation and cleanup operations; functions to supervise labour migration, and carrying out functions to provide public services in the field of promoting trade union membership, employment, labour safety, labour protection, and protection against unemployment. It is a reactive, and not a proactive power. The Council shall also have the power to promulgate limited administrative rules.

- S.M. MIRZIYOYEV
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
Chairman of the Council of Defense of the USSR.
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Chairman of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Chairman of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU.