Mediation in the resolution of collective labour disputes: prospects for implementation in Ukraine

The article is devoted to establishing the content and features of mediation as a method of resolving labor disputes, analyzing the current legislation in the field of legal regulation of mediation in Ukraine, as well as exploring the prospects for introducing mediation to resolve collective labor disputes, taking into account national and international experience. The article provides a theoretical and legal description of mediation as one of the extrajudicial methods of resolving both individual and collective labor disputes, in particular, outlines scientific approaches to determining the content and features of mediation, and analyzes the trends of consolidating mediation at the legislative level in resolving collective labor disputes. The author notes that at the legislative level, the use of mediation in collective labor disputes requires proper regulation, taking into account the level of conflict in collective labor relations. Analysis of the current labor legislation of Ukraine indicates the presence of legal regulation of the institution of mediation exclusively in the field of individual labor disputes. At the same time, the approval of the professional standard «Labor Mediator», in our opinion, creates a conceptual, methodological and personnel basis for expanding the scope of mediation to include the settlement of collective labor disputes. The powers of a labor mediator are not limited to individual disputes, which contributes to strengthening the institutional capacity of the mediation process in the field of labor law in general. In addition, the draft Law of Ukraine «On Collective Labor Disputes», which is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, provides for the first time legislative consolidation of the concept of «labor mediation» in the context of the settlement of collective labor disputes, and also defines the legal status of a labor mediator. The article also examined foreign experience in legal regulation of mediation in the resolution of collective labor disputes using the example of such countries as: Australia, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, the United States of America, Finland, and France. Based on the experience of some foreign countries, ways of improving the legislation of Ukraine in the field of mediation in resolving collective labor disputes have been identified. In the conclusions, the author of the article determined that labor mediation should be considered as a promising mechanism for resolving collective labor disputes, which is based on the principles of voluntariness, achieving consensus and mutual respect of the parties to labor relations. The isolation of labor mediation as an independent type is justified from a regulatory, conceptual and applied point of view, which indicates not the fragmentation of the institution of mediation, but, on the contrary, the institutionalization of a special form of alternative resolution of labor disputes, adapted to the modern social context. The introduction of labor mediation is consistent with the global trend of development of alternative, extrajudicial methods of resolving legal disputes.