Trade Union Action for Peace Day in Tajikistan Date in the current year: September 1, 2024

The trade union movement in its modern form emerged in Great Britain in the mid-18th century due to the rapid growth of the workforce resulting from the Industrial Revolution. Poor laborers, including women, children and immigrants, spontaneously organized in groups to fight for their rights. These proto unions were treated with hostility by employers and government groups.

The first trade organization to bring together workers of different occupations was founded in 1818 in Manchester, but British trade unions weren’t legalized until 1872. In the mid-19th century, trade unions and nationwide labor organizations began to emerge in other countries, including the United States, France, and Germany.

The history of the trade union movement in Tajikistan officially began in April 1926, when the first Council of Trade Unions of the Tajik ASSR was elected at the First Congress of Trade Union Organizations, which took place in Dushanbe (then named Stalinabad). However, the first trade union in Tajikistan was actually founded in 1917; it was the Committee of Workers and Employees of the railway station in Khujand.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the trade union movement in Tajikistan grew and strengthened along with the all-Soviet trade union movement. By the moment the Tajik ASSR was transformed into the Tajik SSR in 1929, Tajikistani trade unions had a total of 25 thousand members. This number grew to 80 thousand people by the beginning of World War II and to almost 1.5 million people by 1980.

In 1990, when the collapse of the Soviet Union was imminent, the Plenum of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions announced the statutory independence of trade unions from government authorities. In January 1991, the annual Congress of Trade Unions of Tajikistan decided to establish the Federation of Trade Unions of Tajikistan, opening a new page in the history of the country’s trade union movement.

During the Soviet era, trade unions were responsible for the social welfare of the population (pensions, free healthcare, temporary disability benefits, etc.). This changed in the mid-1990s, when the Social Insurance Fund of Tajikistan was created. It took over social care, and trade unions focused on protecting employees’ rights and enforcing labor laws.

The operation of trade unions in Tajikistan is regulated by the Law on Trade Unions, adopted in 2011. It regulates the legal framework for the formation of trade unions, their rights and guarantees of operation, and their relations with government agencies, employers and other parties.

Trade Union Action for Peace Day in Tajikistan was established to highlight the contribution of trade unions to the development of employer-employee relationships in the country, as well as to raise awareness of their role in achieving peace during the civil war (the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions was one of the first to sign the Agreement on Social Accord in 1996).