Russian Workers Protest On Wage Arrears
	  id XAA11549; Mon, 29 Sep 1997 23:24:08 -0400


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Sep 26, 1997 by labornews@igc.apc.org

INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)

ICFTU OnLine...
232/970916/LD

Russia: wave of protest for unpaid wages 

Brussels, September 16 (ICFTU OnLine):  Some 500 workers from the mines
and the energy sector today (September 16) organised protest pickets
outside the local government offices in Vladivostock (in the far east of
Russia) to demand payment of wage arrears.  At the same time, workers
from the two main military nuclear research centres in Sarov (in the
Volga region) and Snejinsk (Ural) began a protest movement for the same
reason.

In Vladivostock, delays in paying wages vary from five to 12 months and
the trade union protests rocking the energy sector could quickly spread.

In Sarov, previously known as Arzamas-16, the 20,000 workers at the
research centre have not been paid since May and the State has so far
only completed half of its orders for 1997.  The State has also owed
some 111 billion roubles (19 million dollars) to the Snejinsk research
centre (previously known as Tcheliabinsk-70) since the beginning of the
year, three fifths of that amount being unpaid wages.

This new wave of protests marks the decision by Russian trade unions, of
all tendencies, to make the payment of wage arrears a priority. "The
social climate this autumn will depend on the attitude of the government
and the employers and above all a firm commitment by the State to pay
wage arrears and the money owed to enterprises" stated Mikhail Shmakov,
President of the Independent Trade Union Federation of Russia, FNPR, the
successor to the former official trade unions, which claims a membership
of 60 million.  

Last March, the FNPR and the principal "alternative" trade unions,
created in the wake of the democratisation movement,  organised a day of
protest.  In November, the Russian trade unions are to meet at an
international conference on the question of wage arrears to be held in
Moscow, organised by the International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions (ICFTU) and supported by the International Labour Organisation.  

A report prepared by the ICFTU shows that Russia's total wage debt
amounts to 10 billion dollars, the equivalent of the country's total
wage bill for five weeks.  The report also shows that while officially
the delay in paying wages in the capital, Moscow, is only 4 or 5 days,
it can be as much as 12 months in more remote regions.

According to some sources, strikes may begin as early as 25 September in
the mines in the far east of Russia.

The State has chosen to pay off its debts to pensioners and the armed
forces first.  Promises to pay its civil servants have yet to
materialise.

Contact: ICFTU Press. Tel: ++ 32 2 224 02 12 (Brussels)
 
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