Even in the conditions of the omnipotence of big capital, the Ukrainian workers are achieving victories.

On May 17, 2022, the Supreme Court of Ukraine made a decision in a dispute between the workers of the Kryvoy Rog Iron Ore Plant (KZHRK) and the administration of the KZHRK.

The court recognized the miners' protest action as legal.

KZHRK is one of the largest iron ore mining enterprises. The company is located in the city of Krivoy Rog (Dnipropetrovsk region) and belongs to the structures of two Ukrainian oligarchs - Igor Kolomoisky and Rinat Akhmetov.

The protest began with the fact that in September 2020, the miners of the Oktyabrskaya mine, which is part of the KZHRK, refused to leave the mine to the surface of the earth.

The protest lasted 43 days, and became a significant milestone in the history of the modern labor movement in Ukraine. Three more KZHRK mines joined it. In total, 417 people took part in the action, not counting those who expressed their support on the surface, at speeches and rallies in front of the administration.

Kryvoy Rog miners protested against the fact that they increased the norms of the work plan, and there were not isolated facts when they had to buy the necessary spare parts for obsolete equipment for their own money in order to fulfill this plan.

The last straw was the work of the commission "for the study of working conditions", in fact - in order to take away from workers allowances for harmful and dangerous conditions, and preferential pensions. At the same time, the trade union did not fulfill its function, it did not protect the workers. The protest arose spontaneously, unprepared, no one was behind them.

As a result, the owners had to agree to a pay increase. The administration also promised not to prosecute the protesters. However, to take the word of a Ukrainian businessman is to deceive yourself. And even before the protesters could rise to the surface, they received subpoenas for "illegal strike".

The fact is that Ukrainian legislation is designed in such a way that it is practically impossible to organize a strike in accordance with the law. To do this, you need the consent of the owner to this strike.

Therefore, Ukrainian workers resort to such protests as the "Italian strike" (work according to all the rules), and the miners refuse to leave the mines.

In May 2021, a local court in Krivoy Rog decided that this type of protest, which was chosen by the miners of KZHRK, does not contradict the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.

But the Dnepropetrovsk Region Court of Appeal took the side of big business and decided that the workers' protest was "illegal".

And so the Supreme Court of Ukraine declared that such forms of social protest, which were chosen by the workers of the KZHRK, are legal.

Congratulations to the workers of Kryvoy Rog who rose up to protest against capital for their labor rights. And human rights activists who helped them in this.