BY STEVE MYERS
For some years now, Russian presidents, Yeltsin and now Putin, have been unable to push a new labour code through the Duma, due to opposition by workers and fears within the Kremlin of a backlash. Putin failed in his last attempt last December, but is at it again. This time, the Kremlin is coopting the main "bosses" union federation by making a few amendments, so it will not join with the independent unions in street protests.
In the years before the Soviet Union collapsed, its peoples were informed that in a market economy, everyone is rich, free and happy. Today the market rules, and they are fast achieving a Third World lifestyle. The collapse of half of Russia's industry is compounded by the import of hazardous nuclear waste, mass unemployment and no welfare net.
Meanwhile, those who work face poverty wages, non-payment of wages or payment in kind (for example in coffins, condoms or manure), horrific safety conditions and job insecurity. Many Russians feed their families from what they can grow in a back plot. Tuberculosis and other diseases of poverty, prostitution and the enslavement of women in the sex trade, drug abuse, alcoholism and crime have become epidemic. The average male life expectancy is now just 56.
And now the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, in collaboration with the Russian authorities, are demanding a "modernised" labour code that will impose a 12-hour working day, allow arbitrary sacking at the whim of the bosses who can choose which union represents their workers, permits child labour and forces pregnant women to work night shifts. It is a general reversal of labour rights to Victorian standards.
Independent unions across Russia will collectively protest on June 19 against Putin's new labour code.
The unions concerned are the Federation of Russian Aviation Dispatchers' Trade Unions, the Russian Trade Union of Locomotive Railway Teams, the Russian Dockworkers Union, the Free Trade Union of Russian Light Industry, the Alliance of Russian Trade Unions, the Alliance of Workers' Trade Unions (Zashchita Truda — Defence of Labour), the Confederation of Labour of St Petersburg and the Leningrad region, and the Siberian Confederation of Labour.
The driving force behind this broad committee are a new generation of activists. Unlike the old bureaucrats of the Stalinist parties and the bosses unions who collaborate with Putin, the young activists are internationalists who oppose the war on Chechnya and have spoken out against racism and bigotry.
The main organiser of this fight is a young trade union leader who is also the only Marxist elected to the Duma, Oleg Shein. The young generation of activists back the pro-workers' code, the Shein Code, which forbids sacking of workers without the permission of the union, provides for a five-fold raise for low-paid workers and even calls for the unions to be given control over production and financial decisions of the enterprise, such as how much the boss will be paid!
Real gains have already been won by this young movement in delaying the passage of Putin's code and in organising numerous militant strikes and highway blockades in defence of workers' rights in Astrakhan, Yasnogorsk and other regions. Their actions are a beacon of hope.
If bosses can turn the clock back against workers in Russia they can turn it back on us all! Give your support and solidarity now. International Solidarity with Workers in Russia (ISWoR) has petitions available and is organising an internet protest. Email <ISWoR@aol.com> or write to ISWoR at 46 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8RZ. Visit the web site at <http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html>.