The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal chaired a meeting in the format of a tripartite social dialogue with representatives of the Joint Representative Body of All-Ukrainian Trade Unions at the national level and the Joint Representative Body of Employers at the national level. The meeting was also attended by the First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy Oleksiy Lyubchenko and Minister of Social Policy Maryna Lazebna.

"There are a number of economic challenges that seriously affect both employers and teams. Our task is to find common solutions to these issues," said the Prime Minister.

During the meeting, Minister of Social Policy Maryna Lazebna spoke about the main results of the implementation of social policy and important plans for the future.

"Since 2020, our Government has declared that the main priority of our activities is people, their lives and health. We have set this priority in all strategic documents and consistently implement it in every practical decision," said Maryna Lazebna.

The Minister outlined four priority social reforms that the Government plans to pursue. Among them: subsistence level reform, pension reform (both in terms of increasing pensions and introducing the funded pension system), improving cooperation with communities on social protection and digitalization of the social sphere, including the creation of a single social register.

According to Maryna Lazebna, this will allow to save billions of hryvnias in administrative costs and transfer these resources directly to social protection.

According to First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Lyubchenko, the Ministry of Economy maintains active communication with both employers and trade unions and understands the problems that have arisen in the labor sphere. According to him, in the near future the Ministry of Economy intends to increase the level of employment through state employment centers. The Ministry will also create a digital map of the regions, which will reflect the needs for workplaces.

Employers' representatives thanked the Government for resuming the work of the National Economic and Social Development Council and active dialogue. They also presented their vision of the main challenges that need to be addressed together. These include, in particular, the demographic situation, industrial potential and the involvement of representatives of employers and trade unions in the development of strategic documents and anti-crisis measures.

Representatives of trade unions noted that today's meeting was a confirmation of the need for social dialogue and partnership, and thanked the Government for its balanced position regarding the issue of tariffs amid a free market. They also stressed the need to work together on a unified approach to updating labor legislation, taking into account the obligation not to worsen working conditions, and raised the issue of improving the minimum wage.

The Prime Minister was handed demands from representatives who came to Kyiv in connection with the World Trade Union Day for Decent Work. As was noted: there is an understanding that the Government needs time to deal with them, and it is critical for people to understand that the Government hears them.

The Head of Government stated that Ukraine needs a modern European model of labor relations. Denys Shmyhal also added that the Government is systematically raising the minimum wage and at the same time looking for a balance, taking into account inflation and the burden on employers.

The Prime Minister also told about plans to create jobs, restore industrial capacity and answered other questions of the participants of the meeting. Finally, Denys Shmyhal called on employers 'and trade unions' representatives to promote vaccination campaign to protect the staff and keep businesses economically active.