Our Trade Union is currently working on the establishing of international contacts with the Sport Trade Unions in the EU.
These contacts are necessary for the exchange of the information about the legal situation in the countries, which are leading on the Sports arena.
Currently our Trade Union is working on the development of the according amendments to add them to the existing in Latvia laws in the Sports area.

Basic Goals and Directions of the Program

The goal of the Program is to develop and offer amendments and add to the legal basis in Latvia or the EU concerning sport. This is going to enhance the protection of the legal rights of the professional sportsmen, amateur sportsmen, enhance the development of the sports for children, teenagers, sports in schools, universities and amateur sports clubs in Latvia. By that the Program targets to attract people of different ages and way of living to do sports.

The Program also aims at offering for revision an option for a tax advantages for the professional sportsmen, in order to attract tax money to the state budget from the people doing sports in Latvia, at the same time insuring this category of population with the package of the special social guarantees and benefits.

In the classification of the professions in Latvia, the definition of the professional sportsman is inputted into the special group of professions, that is why the conditions of the work of the sportsmen should be insured with the special package of guarantees.

For example, (sportsmen included into the National team of the country)

Categories: professional sportsman, sports tutor – to define the possibilities for receiving a separate official status (the definition of the categories of sportsmen and tutors based on the international practice of the leading countries in the Sport). It is necessary to develop united Latvian, better EU, classification of the sportsmen and tutors in sports. This should be a system of the assigning of the classification levels, ranks and different social benefits according to the results shown on the official competitions. It would be preferable to have two options: for the individual sports and team sports.

Simultaneously with the assigning of the category, the classification passports and signs can be given to the sportsmen and tutors. The classification passports are needed for imputing the notes about the classifications given to the sportsmen and tutors during their time of work in sports area, as well as stating the rights for social benefits guaranteed by the State. The classification passports should have the legal status and ranks should be given for life.
It is necessary to outline the following:

- The order of the defining of the working experience time (it can be started from the moment when a sportsman, not younger than 16 year old, starts being a member of the youth team representing the country)

- The order and the terms of going to pension of the professional sportsmen and tutors. Sportsmen should go to pension earlier than people of average profession, as sport of the high results is connected to the certain physical efforts and traumas, which spoils the health of the man (advised to be at the 35-40 year of life for the sportsmen).

- It is necessary to enter the obligatory insurance for the sportsmen and tutors of all the levels and qualifications. The possibility of the insurance money partly or in full covered by the State should be discussed. The most appropriate insurance companies in the EU for this type of insurance should be defined.

- It is necessary to discuss the necessity of attracting the Trade Union to the activities of the team consisting of the three parties – employer, state medical expert and the Trade Union, for offering the State social pension in the special cases (professional diseases, traumas which caused partial or complete loss of ability to work for the sportsman or a tutor, etc.).

- It is necessary to insure the delegation of the rights to the Trade Union, which would allow it to define and assign the qualifications of the sportsmen, tutors, legal and physical entities working in the area of sport. Also, it is necessary to delegate to the Trade Union the rights or join the Trade Union with existing institutions, which have such rights, to give licenses and certificates to the educational institutions and private persons, which would allow them to start their professional activity in sport.

- To include the Trade Union into the proxy commission which defines and controls the accordance of the sport building, premises, etc. with the norms of hygiene for doing sports, according to the standards of the EU and giving the allowances for further exploitation of the premises.

- To sign the agreement of collaboration with the governmental employment service in order to receive the information about the vacancies in Latvia and the EU countries, connected with sport and physical training.

- To develop and put in action a joint project for creating the International Trade Unions’ study Center, which would have a status of the institution giving high education for sportsmen.

- To develop and put in action a joint project for creating the International Trade Unions’ Center of the Psychological Rehabilitation of the sportsmen.

- To develop and put in action, jointly with the local governmental institutions and other organizations, a project for creating “The International Sports and Entertainment Center for Rehabilitation and Wellbeing”, which would include:

1) International Center of the Psychological Rehabilitation.
2) International Center of the Rehabilitation.
3) International Sports and Entertainment Center.

- To create a network of the stores selling nutritious food for people doing sports.

- To create the International Fund for Professional Sport Trade union support.

- To differentiate the approach to the payments of the social pensions (amounts and the terms of the pensions depend on the results on the sport career and the duration of the working time in sports – Olympic Champion, World Champion, European Champion, Champion of the State, as well as sportsmen having second and third results of the mentioned competitions, etc.)

- Offering different kinds of social benefits for prominent achievements in sport (Olympic Champion, World Champion, Champion of Europe, State Champion, as well as the sportsman with the second and third results in this kind of championships, etc.), for example:
a) Offering apartments for free
b) Offering free medial services for life
c) Free education, etc.

- To offer different social benefits to the sportsmen and the sport tutors for invalids.

- To put forward the Ministry of Education the idea about the high ring of the amount of sport classes in the school program, about the necessary school Olympiads among the pupils in team sports and athletics (schools and students Olympiads on the country scale), to include preparation for these activities into obligatory school and high educational institutions program. Olympiads serve to promote to school children healthy lifestyle and to indicate talented young people, who would be appropriate for professional sport

Currently our Trade Union is working in this direction, attracting Latvian governmental institutions (The Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Health Protection, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs) to solve the existing problems.

Unfortunately, the bureaucracy and corruption are strong in our country that is why we have certain difficulties in reaching our goals.

We hope for the help and solidarity of Your Trade union and Sports Trade Unions of the other EU countries, in order to solve the problems connected with the protection of the rights of the sportsmen of the EU with our joint efforts.

For the successful solving of the mentioned issues in the EU scale, we offer to join our efforts by creating a working group of people, including into it representatives of Your Trade Union and ours, as well other interested institutions.

We also offer to plan the sources and amounts of the financing of this group and put together the program of the joint activities.


Best regards,

The Chairman of the Trade Union

Oleg Beletskyi