📣 In order to reduce the financial burden faced by everyone, we urge the cancelling of all debts for citizens’ utility bills since the beginning of the year.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by decree No. 206 of March 05, 2022, set the following conditions for payment of utilities:
Establish that until the end or cancellation of the military state [of emergency] in Ukraine it is forbidden:
- accounting and charging of fines (fines,penalties), inflation accounting, annual interest, credit arrangements, relating to the temporary and/or partial payment of the population for housing and utilities;
- termination of provision of housing and utility services to the population in case of non-payment or partial payment.
Accordingly, citizens will still have to pay their full housing and utilities costs, after the end or abolition of the military state [of emergency] in Ukraine.
In other words, the government actually recognizes that the population is in a difficult situation that prevents the payment of these costs, but the measures proposed by the government are half-hearted.
It is worth considering that during the war, many employees lose their jobs due to the physical destruction of businesses (for example, 43 cases of hospital attacks alone were recorded). Many people have been unable to work in the war conditions.
Also, in the approved law of Ukraine umber 7160, “For the organization of labor relations in conditions of military state,” there are some conditions that strengthen the vulnerability of workers:
- dismissal of an employee during a period of temporary unemployment and leave of absence, as well as dismissal of union members without consent of Profcom [tripartite structure] (st. 5 Projects);
- Suspension of the action of the labor contract in connection with the military aggression against Ukraine, which excludes the possibility of performing work (st. 13 of the Project).
This creates the risk of losing many employment positions, and increasing the financial burden on workers.
People will literally have nothing from which to pay for the services of private monopolies, based on tariffs which, already in peacetime turned out to be unfair.
In this regard, we urge the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to approve a decision on waiving off housing and communal services debts, retroactive to the beginning of 2022.
State support is very important for citizens, who are going through difficult times and who will continue to work for the revival of Ukraine’s economy.
Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement) Ukraine
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