The strikes are done

Trade unions insist on relaxing strike laws

It appears that the outbreak of strike activity that occurred last fall has forced authorities to consider relaxing existing labor laws. Strikes at the Vsevolozhsk Ford plant , strikes of dockers and railway workers showed that there is no escape from the “working people’s struggle for their rights,” but at least this struggle can be waged according to rules that suit all parties to the conflicts. In any case, the leadership of Russian trade unions, which are vitally interested in the liberalization of labor relations, are confident that they cannot do without a new strike law.

On Monday, the leader of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, Mikhail Shmakov, confirmed that trade union associations, together with representatives of employers and the relevant ministry - the Ministry of Health and Social Development - are working on amendments to the Labor Code. According to the head of the country's largest trade union, the result of the joint work should become known by the end of April. By this date, the tripartite commission must issue proposals designed to liberalize and simplify the procedure for resolving labor disputes.

Actually, there is no bill as such yet - it exists only in the form of preliminary drafts, in the discussion of which a working group of Rostrud experts, official and alternative trade unions participate. In addition, as the deputy head of the FNPR and member of the Public Chamber Oleg Neterebsky said, there is a ready-made version of the draft amendments to the Labor Code, designed to bring the code into compliance with the requirements of the International Labor Organization. But this document does not address “a set of issues related to the regulation of labor disputes.” And these issues require immediate resolution, Mr. Neterebsky emphasizes. According to the deputy chairman of the FNPR, in the current legislation “there are a number of dead ends”, due to which the collective labor dispute cannot be resolved at all.

For example, according to the current norms of the Labor Code, workers, before starting a strike, are required to notify the employer ten days before the start. The main catch is that workers must necessarily agree with the owners and local governments on a certain list of minimum work. As a rule, it is impossible to agree on it: the employer is interested in expanding the list, and the employees are interested in reducing it. If the parties do not agree, then the issue is referred to the regional authorities, the issue is “wound up”, and the strike is postponed indefinitely. If workers, without waiting for the completion of bureaucratic procedures, nevertheless begin a protest action, then it, of course, is recognized as illegal.

“Banning a strike does not mean resolving a labor conflict. This is an illusion,” said Boris Kravchenko, president of an alternative association of trade unions, the All-Russian Confederation of Labor, in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. Strike activity, which has increased in recent months, should convince the authorities that the issue of liberalizing labor legislation is, to put it mildly, ripe. “This is evidenced by the entire practice of recent months - the strikes that were carried out by our member organizations, and the actions that were carried out by the trade unions of the FNPR and the Confederation of Labor of Russia (KTR),” Kravchenko emphasized.

Both the “alternatives” and the leadership of the official trade unions are convinced that it is time to change the “squeezed” norms of the law. According to Mr. Kravchenko, this issue was discussed with both Mikhail Shmakov and KTR President Alexander Shepel. “We really need to simplify the procedure for holding strikes. It should give workers the right to actually defend their labor rights before the employer,” the leader of the FNPR voiced general demands. In turn, the president of the VKT, Boris Kravchenko, warned: if legislators or the presidential administration do not meet the wishes of the workers, the trade unions will launch a “serious campaign.”

Mikhail MOSHKIN