The Xth Congress of the Trade Union Federation of Belarus (FPB) unanimously elected Yuri Senko President for another 5-year term. The former Chief Customs Officer of the country enjoyed staunch support of the delegates in the best traditions of the Stalinist era.
After the voting was done, he expressed his gratitude for the trust shown him and promised to spare no efforts, serving the society and the country. It will be noted that Lukashenka himself was not present at the Congress, reducing his involvement to a written welcoming address. In the past, the dictator would not allow himself this sort of thing.
Notably, Senko and a number of his associates found themselves mentioned in a Resolution of the European Parliament. The EU now demands identification, freezing, and possible seizure of assets belonging to Belarusian leaders involved in supporting the Russian military aggression, as well as assets of physical and legal persons supporting Lukashenka, with the FPB among them. The persons mentioned in the Resolution include the FPB International Secretary Hanna Varfalameyeva and the President of the Belarusian Industrial Workers’ Union “Belprofmash”Valery Kursevich.
For three decades Senko worked in the national Customs Committee where his career eventually progressed to the very top. Later on, he was sent to China as Belarus’ Extraordinary Ambassador to return in April 2024 already as the FPB President, bringing along the idea of replicating the Chinese model of an authoritarian union structure in Belarus.
Speaking to the Congress, Senko confirmed that the FPB efforts building the labour movement would be guided by the Chinese experience. Earlier, he said that the People’s Republic of China pursued a State strategy of maximizing workers’ membership in the unions controlled by the Communist Party. Now he intends to introduce this approach in Belarus, stressing that the more members unions have, the more effective they can be “crystallizing” issues.
Since 2002, the pro-Governmental trade union movement in Belarus has been undergoing a process of relentless transformation, increasingly turning it into another tool in the hands of the authorities, a tool denied any shred of autonomy; and this process is now being finalized. The appointment of Senko is only reinforcing the trend, completely replacing the protection of workers’ interests with the implementation of administrative directives coming from on high.
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