Szymon Martys
"Be Like Nina" ("Будь як Ніна - BUDYAKNINA") is a social movement of Ukrainian nurses and medical workers founded in 2019 after nurse Nina Kozlovska published a post on her Facebook profile about the conditions nurses are forced to work under in Ukraine: low salaries, overtime and lack of social security. Nina's post quickly spread among medical workers from across Ukraine. Discussions about the plight of Ukrainian nurses took place under the hashtag #Будь як Ніна. Medical workers then founded a group of the same name. Its Facebook page has now more than 82,000 subscribers and is a space for sharing the problems and ideas of medical workers from across Ukraine, voicing needs and demands and organising public events and protests. The movement's leaders actively speak out in public and in the press, publicising the problems of medical workers. In the winter of 2019, the 'Be Like Nina' movement organised the first protests in several cities of Ukraine. The demands of the movement were: • increase the salaries of medical workers; • increase in healthcare spending to 7 per cent of GDP; and • health care reform to be carried out considering the voice of doctors. The protests were repeated in 2020, and in 2021, on Nurses' Day, 'Be Like Nina' activists organised an action in front of the Ministry of Health which led to talks with the minister. These actions were actively publicised in the media. In November 2020, the movement officially became the social organisation Medical Movement 'Be Like Nina'. In 2021, the Lviv Regional Trade Union of Medical and Health Care Workers was established on its basis. Thanks to the movement's activities and cooperation with other organisations, it managed to win several court cases for the reinstatement of unlawfully dismissed nurses in the Lviv and Poltava regions. Activists also succeeded in bringing about the payment of outstanding salaries in several medical institutions. The organisation and the trade union continue to operate even in the midst of war and strive to improve the living conditions of medical workers. Although opportunities are severely limited, they do not stop defending their rights. Currently, 'Be Like Nina' provides training and coaching for nurses and medical workers across Ukraine. They also organise meetings to discuss the work of medics during the war, the working conditions and the risks involved. They share experiences and plan strategies to act and deal with current challenges for workers and unions in Ukraine. In September 2023 the movement was awarded the Freedom from Fear Award by UNI Global Union, which was received in Philadelphia (USA) by the organisation's co-founder Oksana Slobodiana. The awarding trade unionists recalled the role that 'Be Like Nina' played in supporting health care workers during the war, including helping to reinstate unlawfully dismissed nurses in the Lviv and Poltava regions or recovering unpaid wages in many medical institutions. Oksana Slobodiana said: "I accept this award on behalf of all workers in Ukraine. I am encouraged by the fact that UNI colleagues from all over the world see our daily struggle and support us. Our trade union work is very important now as we defend workers' basic rights and human rights. And it will be no less important after the war to restore the rights we have lost and to ensure that people have fair working conditions. Thank you for being with us in these efforts." Slobodiana also attended the congress of CONLUTAS, a Brazilian coalition of trade unions and social movements, active, among other things, in organising “workers' convoys” of material aid to Ukraine. In addition, in Brazil she took part in the 5th conference of the International Labour Network of Solidarity and Struggles where she met unions of various countries and took the floor to explain the situation in Ukraine and the fight of Be like Nina. The European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (https://ukraine-solidarity.eu/) wants to organise a series of meetings across Europe with activists of the 'Be Like Nina' movement in the coming months, especially in countries where there have been recent protests by medical workers, in order to exchange experiences and express solidarity with Ukrainian women and men working and fighting for their rights under conditions of war and Russian occupation. The tour projections initially include the UK, France, Belgium and Denmark. We encourage your organisation to get involved in your country and join the active co-organisation of this campaign.