An open letter signed by representatives of the National Association of Mining Industry, the Ukrainian Association of Ferroalloy Producers, the All-Ukrainian Union of Building Materials Producers, and the "Ukrcement" Association emphasizes the necessity of preserving human capital in technologically complex industries.
"To maintain Ukraine's economic potential, it is crucial to preserve human capital, especially in sectors where production processes are technologically sophisticated and require extensive training. To safeguard key employees and, consequently, the production capacity of enterprises, the state employs mechanisms such as worker reservation during martial law," the authors of the letter noted.
Business representatives highlighted that, in addition to issues with electricity and shelling, enterprises are also facing personnel losses. However, thanks to the current reservation system, large companies can retain up to half of their workforce.
"The existing reservation procedure is not perfect and has certain flaws that allow companies that are not critically important in essence to obtain the status of a critically important enterprise. This primarily concerns the ability to attain such status based on decisions made by local government administrations (military administrations). We understand and share the president's desire to bring order to the worker reservation process. However, amid questionable decisions by local authorities, the processes of reservation have been completely halted along with the relevant ministries," the letter states.
Business associations stress that audits should focus on reviewing the decisions of local administrations, while at the ministry level, the reservation processes should be resumed.
"The procedure for verifying the justifications and grounds for determining or confirming the status of critically important enterprises, as well as the reservation of workers, was carried out by ministries at a high level. We are convinced that your instructions were aimed at identifying risks and deficiencies for their subsequent elimination, but did not intend to halt all reservation processes for genuinely critically important enterprises, as this could completely paralyze the economy and lead to catastrophic consequences," the signatories emphasized.
They also reminded of the economy's importance in supporting the Armed Forces and urged the president to intervene in the situation.
"This year, you noted that one soldier equals six civilians who pay taxes. In this regard, we ask you to intervene in the current situation and instruct the authorized bodies and officials of the Cabinet to promptly restore the processes of confirming the status of critically important enterprises at the ministry level for the functioning of the economy and to resume the worker reservation process for such enterprises, including utilizing the functionality of the "Diia" portal," the authors of the letter concluded.