RUSSIA: Gazprom Vega workers contaminated by radiation
The following appeal was issued by the workers of the Vega department of Gazprom.
We are workers in a department of the Russian Gazprom [natural gas] corporation. For 10 years we have been working at an underground repository for radioactive waste left over from nuclear tests in the early 1980s at Prikaspiystaya lowland. During these years, we have been subject to constant radioactive emissions.
We have had no protective clothing although the radiation levels were 600 times higher than the maximum safe level. In the summer of 1998 we demanded compensation for work-related illnesses. Since then, we have been under unprecedented pressure from management.
First they tried to dismiss us. Thanks to the Zaschita trade union, the attempt failed. Then we were locked out of work and we have not been paid for 18 months.
Our situation is getting worse. The Russian courts refuse to hear our case. We have been told that there is no law to force our bosses to compensate us for the damage to our health and that we should try to persuade our company to pay us.
The Russian state itself is paid by big companies and run by big business. We need your help. Please send telegrams and letters of protest to Russian President Vladimir Putin so that he and his administration will feel pressure from Western workers.
We demand that: our case be tried in court; those responsible for the destruction of our health be punished; and compensation for the illnesses we have suffered as a result of Gazprom's unsafe working conditions.
Send protest faxes to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, at +7 095 206 02 66. Please email a copy of your letter to <ISWoR@aol.com>.
[From the Russia Info-list <http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html>.]