Unified Repository of Collective Agreements and Smart Contracts: GCTU Sets the Vector for Trade Union Digital Transformation
Trade unions risk losing their ability to effectively protect workers rights amid the growth of the platform economy without rapid digital transformation. Experts from the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU) in the academic essay Social Dialogue in a Polycentric World view digitalization as a strategic priority, without which it is impossible to maintain the regulatory role of the trade union movement in labor relations.
«Achieving the goals of the integration process, including the establishment of unified standards in the socio-labor sphere, raises the question of the need for state regulators to facilitate the digital transformation of trade unions and their associations at both national and interstate levels», - the study states.
Against the backdrop of the rapid growth of platform employment and the widespread digitalization of the labor market, the main challenge is the lack of unified digital platforms that could ensure interaction among the three key parties—trade unions, employers, and governments. The shortage of resources for trade union organizations to develop their own IT infrastructure also takes its toll.
To overcome these barriers, the GCTU proposes systemic solutions. These include the creation of a Unified Repository of Collective Agreements - a publicly accessible information system for storing and providing services related to socially significant labor norms, developed through joint decisions by social partners in the labor sphere. The GCTU advocates for the introduction of smart contracts, which will automate the recording and monitoring of compliance with social guarantees in employment. Another demand to governments is to provide free hosting of trade union IT systems on state digital platforms.
The General Confederation of Trade Unions has initiated the updating of the model law On Social Partnership and proposed the establishment of a cross-border tripartite mechanism for labor regulation. The measures proposed by the WCTU could become a tool for preserving the role of the trade union movement in regulating labor relations in the digital economy.
GCTU News
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Belarusian Trade, Consumer Cooperation and Entrepreneurship Workers' Union Turns 95
The Trade, Consumer Cooperation and Entrepreneurship Workers' Union of the Republic of Belarus celebrated its 95th anniversary on July 31. Today, the union unites over 143,000 industry workers across the country, with 1,681 primary trade union organizations. The union reliably protects the rights of industry workers in the Republic and actively operates on the international stage as part of the International Confederation of Trade Unions of Workers in Trade, Catering, Consumer Cooperation, and Various Forms of Entrepreneurship.
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The proposals for the draft plan of the Year of Social Development and Quality of Life were discussed during the first meeting of the Working Group of the Advisory Council on Labour, Employment, and Social Protection of the Population of the CIS Member States. The meeting took place today at the CIS Executive Committee in Minsk via video conference.
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Viktor Pinsky: "The meeting of the General Confederation of Trade Unions Council in Dushanbe is a landmark event for the entire trade union movement of the Commonwealth of Independent States"
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, July 1, 2026 – Viktor Pinsky, Chairman of the Commission of the Russian State Duma on Regulations and Organisation of State Duma Activities and General Secretary of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU), called the meeting of the GCTU Council, held on July 1 in Dushanbe, a landmark event for the trade unions of the Commonwealth of Independent States.