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Rebirth of Unions in Russia
Boris Kagarlitsky
Boris Kagarlitsky has been an activist, journalist, and scholar of Russian
labor and social movements since the days of the Soviet Union. He is no
stranger to international solidarity; during the attempted coup of October
3, 1993 he was thrown into a Moscow police lockup, but was released after
phone calls from around the world -- particularly the San Francisco Bay area
in the U.S. -- demanded his release. In this article he connects the
stirrings of labor in Russia to the development of globalization by
employers -- and by labor.
The Rebirth of the Unions
By Boris Kagarlitsky
Few people in the Soviet era understood the need for trade unions. Sure, the
unions collected membership fees and distributed free trips to sanatoriums
among the workers, but apart from that no one could clearly explain what
function they played. The early 1980s brought sensational news from Poland,
when workers formed Solidarity labor union, not controlled by the Communist
Party, and threw down a challenge to the ruling communist bureaucracy. Yet
this was less a trade-union dispute in the Western sense than a political
one.
In Russia, the non-affiliated trade unions that appeared on the wave of
social upheaval in 1989-90 went through a baptism of fire, after which came
a steep decline.
In terms of ideology and organization, the unions were not prepared for new
conditions after the end of the Soviet Union. Because they had appeared
during the Soviet era under the slogan of fighting the bureaucracy, they
were cynically used by liberal politicians looking for support from the
masses. The subsequent economic reforms brought a sharp decline in workers'
standards of living, redundancies, and occasionally even hunger. Independent
trade unions, which were meant to provide support for the reformers, were
discredited.
The Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions, a national umbrella
organization that was part of the Soviet legacy, also failed to play a
heroic role. It took the side of the "red directors" -- Soviet-era bosses
who took over at many enterprises. They joined the red directors in first
criticizing, and then making peace with the government. It returned to its
role as a transmission belt from the authorities to the masses, but this
time the authorities were capitalist. In a demonstration of their loyalty,
the official trade unions have become one of the main props of the United
Russia party.
In recent years, the mass protests that marked the end of the 1990s
disappeared and social peace reigned, supported by economic growth and high
world energy prices.
The events of recent months provide clear evidence of rising social
tensions, however, and relatively successful enterprises are proving to be
the beacons of the conflict. Journalists have brought words like "strike,"
"workers' action" and "trade union picket" back into their vocabularies on
the front pages of newspapers and magazines.
Workers at Ford fought for a pay raise. Workers at carmakers across Russia
are forming a national organization. The oil workers of Surgut are demanding
better pay and abandoning the Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions
in droves to set up non-affiliated unions. Workers at the Kholodmash factory
in Yaroslavl have laid siege to the management building.
Feeling threatened, a number of companies are hurriedly taking preventive
measures. Norilsk Nickel, which has faced protracted labor disputes in the
past, seems determined to prevent them from happening again. Union
representatives at the Kola Mining & Metallurgical Company say they have
been forced to go to court because workers are being threatened by
management with the lowering or total elimination of bonuses if they don't
quit the union.
A similar story is unfolding at the GM-AvtoVAZ plant in Tolyatti.
Chevrolet-Niva was one of the first foreign cars produced in Russia, but
here the independent union appeared late. GM-AvtoVAZ's response to the Ford
strike was swift and brutal. Management targeted union leader Andre Lyapin
and other activists with disciplinary measures by management. All-Russia
Confederation of Labor president Boris Kravchenko was forced to submit a
protest letter to management in which he threatened to "inform our partners
from abroad."
The threat was not an idle one, as Kravchenko's organization is part of the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and has started
international solidarity campaigns on a number of occasions in the past.
This is an important characteristic of the new trade union movement in
Russia. The movement has been formed in a world where globalization is a
fact of life and with close ties to international organizations. Russian
managers now also have to listen to demands that are commonplace in Western
countries, like higher wages, better severance packages and improved working
conditions. As profits and production increase, it is increasingly difficult
to hold down salary demands. Unions are becoming more radical and are
learning how to win.
High oil prices have not only made possible industrial growth and increased
demand from the middle class. The revival of the workers' movement has been
another extremely important social consequence.
September 22, 2006
Copyright 2006 The Moscow Times
