The Government should use Ireland’s presidency of the EU to help ensure support is provided to Ukrainian soldiers, many of them disabled, seeking to reintegrate into civilian workplaces, a meeting of European trade union leaders has heard.Up to 1.2 million workers will need to return civilian jobs after frontline service and “we can’t pretend they will all be fine”, said Esther Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. “We are hoping the Government will use its influence during the coming months to help ensure these people and their families are helped as part of a practical programme of supports to Ukraine,” she said. “The voice of these workers needs to be heard in the conversation about workplaces and how Ukraine will move on after the war. The employers need to be part of that discussion too.” Lynch was speaking in Dublin on Tuesday as trade union leaders from across Europe met at the headquarters of Fórsa to consider ways in which the movement can play a bigger part in efforts to address the societal impacts of big conflicts.Roberto Garcia Gonzalez, president of EuroCop, at the Trade Unions for Peace meeting in Dublin. The movement of refugees, the growth of racism driven by the far right and the spread of online disinformation are among the direct or indirect effects of the war in Ukraine being felt across Europe, the meeting heard. The leader of EuroCop, the confederation of police unions, said big criminal gangs in neighbouring countries and beyond were seeking to profit from the disruption that has arisen.“They exploit these situations to make money in many ways, including trafficking human beings, women who might end up in the sex trade or children,” said Roberto Garcia Gonzalez, whose organisation represents some 230,000 police officers.“The job of the police changes because of all this,” he said. “And whether you are in a country that borders Ukraine or you are 2,000km away, sooner or later the war affects you.”The conference heard that the diversion of resources to defence spending in many nations, or to accommodating refugees in others, affected social, education, health and other services, something that has repeatedly been exploited by the far-right to create division.Lynch said the work done by unions in countries like Ireland, Ukraine and Colombia, where they have sought to combat online disinformation among members and to promote or underpin peace efforts in their countries, was an example of the contributions the movement can make to conflict resolution and post-conflict rebuilding.Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary Owen Reidy said unions had played an important role during and after the Northern Ireland Troubles and the recent racist attacks in Belfast were a reminder of the work to be done.“There is no excuse for what we saw [in Belfast] or in Dublin in November 2023, but inequality and poverty feed into the narrative that is manipulated by others to fuel violence and exploit the tensions it creates,” he said.“Countering that is very much our core business. The work of trade unions doesn’t stop at the factory gates and unions can bring valuable experience to the sort of situations w are discussing here today.”