In July, the Center for Economic and Political Reform, a think tank that monitors and studies social and economic issues in Russia, released a report on labor conflict in the second quarter of 2016. In this period, TsEPR identified 263 incidents in 65 regions in Russia, 34 more than the first quarter. Fifty-six were specifically labor protests (hunger strikes, strikes, pickets, etc).
The overwhelming majority of these incidents, 171, concerned unpaid wages. The most recent examples of workers’ efforts to fight for unpaid wages are the ongoing hunger strike of 175 miners in Rostov province under the slogan “We are not slaves” and AvtoVAZagregata autoworkers, who haven’t been paid for almost a year, blocking a federal highway. This action was in response Samara’s governor Nikolai Merkushkin cutting down a worker’s question about her back pay with, “Well, I want to say that if you speak in that tone, [it will be] never! Never!”
As this TsEPR map of labor conflict throughout Russia shows these workers fighting for their rights are hardly alone.
https://api-maps.yandex.ru/frame/v1/-/CZvQFKZL
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Protests connected with labor conflicts (strikes, pickets, etc) |
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Reduction of work hours |
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Withholding pay (various pay) |
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Layoffs |
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Reduction of pay |
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Protests unconnected to labor conflicts |
