· In defense of ILO Conventions
· In defense of the independence of workers`
   organizations

Geneva, 11th June 2000

Report, by
Svetlana Baiborodova

The Russian Government Plans to Abolish Fundamental Labor Rights

Women are the most vulnerable part of labor force.  They have a particular need in legal protection and regulation at the work place.  Any progressive or regressive change in labor legislation first of all affects women, directly or indirectly.  This is why I decided to use the generous invitation of this organization to speak about women’s labor rights in Russia in order  to inform the international audience about the grave danger that Russian workers, female workers above all, are facing today. 

I have in mind the new barbarous labor code which the Russian Government and President Putin have been pressing the State Duma to pass and which will leave our working class without legal methods of struggle against the arbitrariness of new proprietors and bureaucrats. Without exaggeration, one can say that the labor code that the ruling class prepares to impose on Russian workers will throw them, in legal terms, back to the times of the Tsarist Empire.  If made into law, this legislation will effectively abolish the 8-hour workday and legal protection of trade-union representatives, legalize unlimited overtime work without overtime pay, and greatly weaken the conditions of work for women. 

Every Russian government, starting with Chernomyrdin’s, tried to liquidate the present (Soviet!) Labor Code. They were prompted to do so by the IMF and the World Bank.  To give you just one example of this international conspiracy against Russian workers: On October 7, 1997 the World Bank approved a US$28.6 million Social Protection Implementation Loan (SPIL) to Russia.  Under the category Unemployment Assistance (US$2.46 million total base cost) the SPIL project said: "Assist the government to draft a new Labor Code". (1)

He who pays the piper calls the tune.  This anti-labor Labor Code is demanded by transnational corporations, for it allows them to bring down the cost of labor in Russia even lower than it is now. This anti-labor Labor Code is demanded by Russian capitalists and managers to squeeze maximum profit out of their workers, to have the right to dismiss any one, who will dare to assert her rights for work conditions, wages and treatment worthy of human being. Last not least, this anti-labor Labor Code is meant to give proprietors and the state the legal power to smash our strike committees and militant trade unions. 

Let us see now what, specifically, this code offers to Russian workers and their unions.  First of all, it abolishes a number of trade union rights guaranteed by the present Code. Trade unions will no longer be able: 

1. To make employers dismiss managers who violate the rights of workers and their union representatives.

2. To coordinate with administration work schedules, shift assignments and transfers, vocation schedules and vocation compensation, payment of bonuses, the revision of labor norms and work safety rules. 

3. Trade unions will lose their right to control management’s actions in regard to elected union representatives, i.e., the termination of their employment, job transfers, or penalties.

4. They will also lose their right to be provided with the office and the means of communication, as well as the right to verify the correctness of payrolls.

The government’s draft:

· deletes Article 227 of the present code, which gives labor collectives the right to participate in the management; 

· abolishes the entire section on the labor collective, which postulates that privatization of state and municipal enterprises is allowed only with the consent of the labor collective;

· allows the employer to sign short-time contracts of any duration, with any one, and for unlimited renewals;

· gives management the right to introduce the regime of part-time work without prior notification;

· allows the termination of employment for “revealing commercial secrets,” by which the employer can mean virtually anything: from the content of the labor contract and the profit sharing to the information about wages and salaries, and so on.

The new code drastically lowers the requirements for work conditions:
· It allows the use of women’s labor in night shifts and sending mothers with small children to business trips;

· Paid maternity leave will be cut in half, from three years to a year and a half; 

· The employer is no longer required to provide special clothing for work in a special thermal regime, free soap, and soda;

· If passed, the government bill will permit employers to employ pregnant women, adolescents, and mothers with small children in night shifts. 
Moreover, the government’s bill greatly broaden workers’ financial liability, both individual and collective, without agreement with the trade union; allows the employer to increase the workday up to 12 hours and the work week up to 56 hours on the basis of just “employee’s request”; and revives classical black lists, entitling management to create databases on their workers' private life, political views, associations, and trade-union activity.
This list of proposed changes is far from complete.  But it shows the breadth and the depth of the attack that the ruling class prepares against the toiling masses of Russia. 

The advocates of this legislature argue that it will simply reflect the really existing relations between employers and employees, and that the new labor code will raise the "effectiveness" of Russian economy.  However, it must be kept in mind that these "really existing relations" are based on deception, humiliation, psychological and, often, physical intimidation of workers, on the corruption of state bureaucrats and union bosses.  In other words, these "existing relations” blatantly violate the existing law; they are illegal.  To legalize this illegality, this criminal exploitation of Russian workers is what the government's bill is all about.

  The Alliance of Trade Unions "Defense," which I have the honor to represent here, has been fighting this labor code draft for the last four years and so far we managed to prevent it from passing. But now this fight is going to be much harder for us, because the new State Duma is more reactionary than the previous one. 

We have organized the All-Russian campaign in defense of the present Labor Code. On April 4, the Coordinating Committee of this Campaign was established in Moscow. It includes representatives from a number of militant trade unions and workers collectives.  On May 17, the Committee has organized the Day of United Actions with the following demands:  “No  - to the Government's Labor Code, Short-Time Contracts, and the Arbitrariness of "Owners" and Authority!”  “Yes - to the Control of Workers’ Collectives in the Enterprise!” 

Despite their virtually complete silence on this matter up to now, we still hope that international organizations of the working class, ILO in particular, will help us in this struggle.  If adopted, this Labor Code will destroy the legal foundations of trade union activities at the enterprise, all legal venues for defending the rights of workers. Independent workers' organizations--the Alliance of Trade Unions "Defense" and others--capable of combating the bourgeoisie will be liquidated. The defeat of Russian workers may have grave consequences for workers’ struggles all over the world.
You can learn more about our campaign in defense of the labor code from our press release.  Thank you for your attention.
 

(1) Press release of the World Bank from October 7, 1997. 
 
 

Svetlana Baiborodova, June 11, 2000