Protests took place in the cities of the Urals Federal District over the weekend.

Last Sunday, several cities of the Ural Federal District took part in the all-Russian action of independent workers' trade unions under the slogan “Yes to trade union solidarity! No - betrayal of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR)." The largest-scale rallies took place in Surgut (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug) and Kamensk-Uralsky (Sverdlovsk Region) and ended with the detention of several activists of the Red Youth Vanguard and the NBP. In Surgut, the rally took place near the new university building. According to rough estimates of eyewitnesses, about 500-700 people took part in it. These were mainly employees of Surgutneftegaz enterprises supporting the independent trade union Trade Freedom, which became famous for its mass protests last summer. In their hands they held posters: “Court, prosecutor’s office, labor inspection, lawlessness,” written specifically without punctuation, and “Instead of a bonus, a cudgel, be an obedient slave,” and in their speeches they spoke of their rejection of the official trade union, which “being affectionate and gentle to the owners , will never be able to actively and aggressively fight for workers' rights."

The workers were joined by AKM and NBP activists (some of them came from Moscow and Tyumen). This support group had problems even before the rally itself: police officers standing in a cordon warned young people that they were not allowed to use their paraphernalia during the rally. But they did not take advantage of the advice of the security forces. And AKM leader Sergei Udaltsov was detained by police immediately after his speech at the rally. “They said that I allegedly called for illegal actions, they took me to the police station, took my fingerprints, took photographs, then the deputy head of the Surgut criminal police strongly advised me not to come to Surgut again,” he told Kommersant. According to Sergei Udaltsov, he was held for about 2 hours and released after he signed a document stating that he was warned about the inadmissibility of mass riots. “The police detained several more people and refuse to return our paraphernalia to us, citing the fact that these are symbols of a terrorist organization,” said the AKM leader. “I think the authorities simply understand the potential of the labor movement and are afraid of it.”

As the leader of Trade Freedom, Alexander Zakharkin, told Kommersant, following the results of the rally, which lasted about an hour, a resolution was adopted. Among the demands set out in it: the salary of the general director of Surgutneftegaz should not exceed 5 salaries of a 6th category worker, all dismissals and punishments of employees should occur only with the consent of the workers' trade union, all dividend payments to owners should be stopped, and these funds should be used for construction housing for oil company workers.

A similar rally took place in Kamensk-Uralsky near the Zheleznodorozhnikov Palace of Culture. According to the estimates of the organizers, the Nabat workers' union, about 300 people took part in it, mainly workers of the Ural Aluminum Plant (UAZ, part of SUAL) and the Sinarsky Pipe Plant (part of the Pipe Metallurgical Company). All of them were surrounded by police officers. As one of the trade union activists, Sergei Loparevich, told Kommersant, one of the main demands of the workers was the return of illegally dismissed UAZ workers. “Deputy General Director of UAZ Viktor Ivanov came to the rally, but for some reason he left very quickly,” said Mr. Loparevich. In their resolution, the workers demanded an increase in the minimum wage and recognition of free trade unions by the state and employers. In Kamensk-Uralsky, AKM and NBP activists who came from Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk were also detained. A few hours later they were released from the police station.

Surgutneftegaz and the Ural Aluminum Plant reacted with restraint to the protests of independent trade unions. The oil company declined to comment, and representatives of the Ural division of SUAL-Holding noted that the demands of the participants in the action in Kamensk-Uralsky cannot be satisfied. “Relations between the management of the enterprise (meaning UAZ - Kommersant) and the team have always been and are built on the principles of dialogue, all points and conditions of the collective agreement are strictly fulfilled,” said Roman Lukichev, director of information and analytical work at SUAL-Holding-Ural . “As for the demands of the participants in the Sunday action to reinstate those fired, the legality of the actions of the enterprise administration to terminate employment contracts with employees who violated internal labor regulations was confirmed by the decision of the courts of first and cassation instances.”

Nikolay Yablonsky

Kommersant (Ekaterinburg) No. 44 from 03/20/2007

Workers' unions have come out officially