Ukraine Workers: Wartime Diaries

Workers and unions in Ukraine are gathering and delivering humanitarian aid, assisting refugees with transportation and volunteering to support the homebound and others to survive in a brutal war. And Labour Initiatives, a local non-governmental organization that supplies legal and other assistance to workers and unions, is ensuring their stories are told.

Labour Initiatives has launched a video series, dubbed Wartime Labor Diary, featuring interviews with workers that document their often heroic efforts in Kyiv during wartime.

Here’s the latest Ukraine Wartime Diary 👇

Platform driver “Comrade Gromov” discusses the challenges he is facing in repairing his vehicle so he can carry on with delivering critical supplies. “Drivers with lorries and vans are on the frontlines of humanitarian aid, of humanitarian volunteering work,” he says.

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Railway Union Youth Leader Katerina Izmailova describes her family’s escape to safety, her work to set up transport lines for humanitarian assistance, the union’s efforts to distribute anti-trafficking information, and her hopes to rebuild civil society and a strong union in postwar Ukraine.

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Ivanna Khrapko, the chairwoman of the Youth Council of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, discusses her work with the “Trade Union Lifeline” humanitarian network, and speaks with optimism about post-war plans.

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Platform delivery worker “Comrade Gromov” describes how he volunteers with logistics and searches for and delivers needed supplies needed to hospitals, the elderly and the homebound in Kyiv, as well as how he continues to provide customers with service, food and other necessities.

Help Ukraine’s workers and their families!

You can help Ukraine’s workers and their families by donating to the International Trade Union Confederation’s emergency fundraising appeal. The ITUC’s Ukrainian member organizations are providing support to families who desperately need assistance with food and water, medical supplies and hygiene items.

You can also support these organizations also providing emergency assistance to people under bombardment or seeking refuge from the war:

• International Trade Union Confederation
• People in Need Ukraine
• Ukrainian Red Cross
• Caritas Ukraine
• Razom for Ukraine