About the trade union

Historical background of the Belarusian Trade Union of Forestry and Nature Management Workers

The first shoots of the industry trade union movement date back to the end of the 19th century. In 1898, a union of woodworkers was created in the city of Vitebsk. Initially, unions in the forestry industries were organized on a narrow professional basis and did not have a connecting center, as indicated by their names: "Union of Woodworkers", "Union of Coopers", "Union of Sawmills", etc.

The active trade union movement began with the February bourgeois revolution of 1917, after which the following trade unions were created: land and forests, construction workers' union, paper industry workers' union.

The main task of trade unions before the Great October Socialist Revolution was the political and economic struggle against capitalism. The Great October Socialist Revolution radically changed the tasks of trade unions: support and strengthening of the new Soviet state, education of the masses in the spirit of communism, their involvement in the active construction of communism. New tasks required restructuring of all work of trade unions.

In Belarus, the work on restructuring trade unions was delayed due to the temporary occupation of the territory by the White Poles. Immediately after the liberation from the occupiers, work began on organizing trade unions.

Until August 15, 1920, woodworkers worked together with the Union of Construction Workers. Then they separated into an independent unit, forming the Ministry of Agriculture Department of the All-Russian Council of Woodworkers. Until October, the union had 300 members. District branches of the Union were gradually organized and, according to the information received, it turned out that in Mozyr, Bobruisk and Borisov there were up to 1,500 members of the Union. All woodworking enterprises organized factory committees and local committees.

On December 30, 1920, the First Provincial Congress of Woodworkers was held, which carried out a great deal of work on organizational and production issues, since all district enterprises of Belarus were represented at it. The Congress elected the Authorized Provincial Board of 9 people and 2 candidates, as well as the audit commission. Wenzel (name and patronymic not established) was elected Chairman of the Board of Woodworkers.

On July 10, 1920, a temporary Board of the Union of Land Workers was organized on a provincial scale. The Union operated in Borisov, Igumen, Bobruisk, Mozyr, Slutsk, Novogrudok and Minsk districts. In total, there were 54 key Boards, 193 workers' committees with the following number of Union members: in Minsk - 500 people, in the districts - 13,122, and in all cities - 13,622 people. Lukashevich Felician Bronislavovich was elected Chairman of the Board.

After repeated transformations of trade unions, by August 1932, as a result of the disaggregation of the trade union of workers in the forestry and woodworking industry, the trade union of forestry and rafting workers was organized. It united workers, engineers, employees working at enterprises and institutions of the forestry and forest chemical industry, on rafting, in forestry, students of universities, technical schools, workers' faculties and other educational institutions under the jurisdiction of the forestry and forest chemical industry of the BSSR.

The republican body of the trade union of forestry and rafting workers was the Belarusian Republican Committee (BRC).

By the Resolution of the Plenum of the BRC of the Trade Union of Forest and Rafting Workers of August 23, 1932, the composition of the presidium and the structure of the BRC were approved. The apparatus of the BRC consisted of the departments: production and labor protection, wages and labor standards, cultural and mass, provision of everyday life, organizational.

In January 1933, the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Forest and Rafting Workers of the USSR approved the structure of grassroots trade union organizations. For the daily management of trade union work in a production brigade (group) at an enterprise, logging station and other places of work with at least 5 workers, a trade union group organizer was elected. At sites, logging stations, etc., where at least 25 trade union members were employed, workers' committees (workers' committees) were elected with direct subordination to the worker at the forestry enterprise.

To manage trade union work at the production site, organizers were elected from among the members of the working committee: on wages and technical labor standards; on mass production work and labor protection; on issues of workers' supplies and everyday life; on cultural work and technical propaganda.

District workers' committees were elected at district conferences by union members.

In April 1933, workers' committees at rafting sites were liquidated, and trade union representatives were organized in their place.

A new structure of the committee was approved by the resolution of the presidium of the BRK of the trade union of forest and rafting workers of October 8, 1933, according to which the apparatus of the BRK was divided into departments: organizational, production and wages, social services, and the cultural department.
Based on the resolution of the Presidium of the BRC of the trade union of December 5, 1933, a financial department was created.

The growth of the national economy and the working class, the organization of new enterprises with diverse equipment and complex production processes, the struggle for quality work in all links of the production apparatus, required from trade unions a more differentiated and specific approach to each branch of the economy, to serving the needs and demands of individual professions and groups of workers and employees. There was a need to restructure the structure of trade union bodies. This issue was considered at the IV Plenum of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (September 5-9, 1934).

In accordance with the resolution of the IV Plenum of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions "On the restructuring of trade union work" and in pursuance of the Central Council of Trade Unions of September 16, 1934, the resolution of the III Plenum of the BRC of the trade union of forest and rafting workers of February 8-9, 1935, a reorganization of the structure of the BRC apparatus was carried out.

During the reorganization, the work of the BRC apparatus was built on the production-territorial principle: departments were liquidated, and instead of them, groups of instructors were created, who were attached to a certain group of enterprises and were responsible for organizing the entire range of work. The Belarusian Republican Committee of the Trade Union of Forestry and Rafting Workers began to be called the Central Board (CB) of the Trade Union of Forestry and Rafting Workers.

The Central Board organized work on conducting months of checking the implementation of rationalization proposals and inventions, the state of technical training among workers in the forestry industry, the work of workers' control groups, the elimination of illiteracy in the countryside, the organization of socialist competition and shock work at enterprises, reviews and competitions for the best worker committee and fundraising to help striking Austrian workers, the preparation and conduct of a campaign to recruit into the ranks of the Red Army, mass technical propaganda, work with women and youth, the establishment of mutual aid funds and many other areas.

In June 1941, due to the temporary occupation of the territory of Belarus by Nazi troops, the Central Board of Forest and Rafting Workers of the BSSR ceased its activities.

In 1944, the Forest and Rafting Trade Union resumed its activities. At the same time, the Trade Union of Sawmill and Woodworking Industry Workers was created.

In 1954, the 1st Republican Conference of the Industry Trade Union was held on February 23-23.

In 1956, the two trade unions merged and formed the Trade Union of Forest and Paper Industry Workers, which in 1956 was renamed the Trade Union of Forest, Paper and Woodworking Industry. A.F. Potapenko was elected chairman, and L.A. Elpirin was elected secretary.

During this period, the main task of the trade union was to restore the national economy destroyed by the war.

R.V. Goronovsky worked in the trade union for more than 38 years. He was elected as a secretary at the sixth conference (June 5, 1963), and was elected as the chairman of the BRC of the trade union of workers of the forest, paper and woodworking industries at the eleventh conference (December 22, 1976). He worked in this position until August 9, 2000. At the III Congress of the Belarusian Trade Union of Forest Workers, he was elected deputy chairman and worked in this position until August 5, 2001.

On August 8, 1990, at the first congress, the trade union was renamed the Trade Union of Forest Workers of Belarus.

Subsequent congresses of the trade union were convened in 2005, 2010 and 2015.

In 2000, I.M. Gursky was elected chairman of the Belarusian Trade Union of Forest Workers.

At the IV Plenum of the Republican Committee of the Trade Union of Forest Workers, held on July 9, 2008, Goeva Ch.S. was elected as the Chairperson.

On August 9, 1995, the Trade Union of Forest Workers of Belarus was renamed the Belarusian Trade Union of Forest Workers, and on May 31, 2016, at the VII extraordinary congress, a decision was made to reorganize the Belarusian Trade Union of Forest Workers by merging with the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers in the Industries of Nature Management and Geotechnology. As a result of this reorganization, a new name for the trade union was approved - the Belarusian Trade Union of Forest Workers and Nature Management.

History of the formation of the Trade Union of Workers in the Industries of Nature Management and Geotechnology

The history of the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers in the Industries of Nature Management and Geotechnology begins in the 20s of the 20th century. In October 1925, simultaneously with the creation of the geological service of the BSSR, a local committee of the trade union of geological exploration workers was organized at the Institute of Geology of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, as an organizational structure of the Central Committee of the trade union of geological exploration workers.

In October 1938, the 1st Congress of the Trade Union of Geological Exploration Workers was held, which defined the next tasks of trade union activities.

Since June 1990, the trade union has been transformed into the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers in Geology, Geodesy and Cartography.

In June 2005, at the congress, a decision was made to rename the industry trade union into the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers in the Industries of Nature Management and Geotechnology (abbreviated as Belprofgeo).
As a result of the reorganization, the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers in the Industries of Nature Management and Geotechnology was merged with the Belarusian Trade Union of Forestry Workers. The United Industry Trade Union Organization of Workers in Nature Management and Geotechnology was created, which is the organizational structure of the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers in Forestry and Nature Management.

Logo of the Belarusian Trade Union of Forest and Nature Management Workers