KIEV, June 17 - Ukraine's trade unions have formed an association and are preparing to stage a national strike, according to lawmaker Sergei Kaplin of the Petro Poroshenko parliamentary faction.

"The trade unions voiced an ultimatum to the leadership in the Verkhovna Rada yesterday: Kiev will either accept their demands connected with some bills, or the trade union and I will begin a national strike," Kaplin said at a press conference in Kiev on Tuesday.

The trade unions want the tariffs to be halved as a minimum, the 15% tax on pensions to be scrapped and a law on temporary investigative commissions passed, he said.

Kaplin also announced that he had visited all of the regional centers over the past four weeks and was prepared to present his headquarters which, if required, will be deployed to coordinate preparations for a national strike.

The trade unions are going through a unification process, he also said. "It was my dream and obligation to unite the Ukrainian trade unions," he said, adding that the Confederation of Ukrainian Trade Unions, Independent Trade Unions and the unions of all industrial branches have united, becoming a powerful force.

More than 500 people gathered near the parliament building in Kiev on Tuesday morning to demand that wages and pensions be indexed. The demonstrators were holding flags of the Trade Union Federation and Confederation of Free Trade Unions, as well as posters demanding lustration and the introduction of interim administration in the National Bank and protesting plans to shut down Delta Bank.

About 200 protesters blocked the traffic on a street in front of the Cabinet building at noon. (om/ez)