Serhiy Zozulia, head of the primary trade union organization (PTUO) of employees at the National Aviation University "Kyiv Aviation Institute" (KAI), called for an open discussion of the results of a pilot project on university autonomy introduced under Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1029, and for the protection of the labor collective's rights.
"Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1029 on the pilot project to develop autonomy at certain higher education institutions, under which KAI was included without the labor collective's consent, expires in September this year. We are therefore calling on the Ministry of Education and Science to publicly sum up the results of the pilot project at the institute, draw conclusions and tell the public whether the real consequences of this experiment comply with current Ukrainian legislation," Zozulia said Tuesday at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine press center titled "The Rights of the Labor Collective Cannot Be an Experiment."
The issue's urgency stems from the labor collective being sidelined from resolving labor and socioeconomic matters, Zozulia said: social dialogue between the administration and the labor collective has been completely halted, the terms of the collective agreement are not being met, the administration's actions often violate the law, and autonomy has turned into a concentration of management in the hands of a narrow circle of people. He said the union does not oppose the institute's autonomy, but insisted that genuine autonomy is a necessary condition for the development of modern higher education and must be based primarily on the Constitution of Ukraine and the law.
Zozulia also said the labor collective adopted KAI's statute on Dec. 18, 2024, which includes clause 6.8 setting out the procedure for electing a university president or rector: announcing a competition, preparing for the election and holding the election. In August 2025, without a competition being held, within the framework of the pilot project and in violation of the law on higher education and the university's statute, a candidate with no academic degree or teaching experience was elected president, he said.
Union lawyer Ihor Konoplitsky said the institute's administration had committed legal violations. "I believe there are all the signs of a criminal violation in the actions of the institute's administration. In July, the union was forcibly evicted from its premises, so we have several court cases challenging the administration's unlawful actions," he said.
The cases involve violations of the labor collective's rights and a lawsuit to protect business reputation, Konoplitsky said. "It will be a long legal process, but I hope we will defend the labor collective's rights and win these disputes," he said.
Zozulia said the question now being decided is whether Ukrainian universities will remain a space for academic freedom and social dialogue or turn into institutions where the labor collective's opinion no longer matters.
As previously reported, at a July press conference at Interfax-Ukraine, Zozulia said KAI's administration was obstructing the union's activities and unlawfully dismissing employees. He said at the time that the union's activities were being obstructed at KAI, amid which unwanted employees were being unlawfully dismissed, the administration seized premises allocated to the union on July 16, and financial pressure was being applied by withholding membership dues.
In turn, KAI's administration said the PTUO had asked the university to transfer funds to the union's account based on its membership registry, without providing employees' personal statements consenting to such deductions, which it said violates Ukrainian law, KAI's statute and the collective agreement. The administration cited monthly figures for union dues transferred, which it said rose significantly in June compared with previous periods, and said that while it cannot demand a report on how the funds are used, such a report should be published by the union for its members.
"The university regularly asks the unions to submit proposals on working conditions and the collective agreement. The head of the joint union representative body sits on the university's statutory council, which drafted the current version of the university's statute. Unfortunately, no proposals on the statute, the collective agreement or employee welfare have been received from the PTUO to date. The administration of National Aviation University KAI does not consider it appropriate to speculate on why certain university unions are trying to prevent the university from gaining national status, are publicly posting false information about the union dues funds they hold, and are trying to provoke conflicts during the admissions campaign," the administration said in a statement.
