-------- Original Message -------- Subject: OWC REPORT BACK No. 25 (Russia) Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 23:25:27 -0500 (CDT) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Organization: ? To: undisclosed-recipients:; --============_-1254818101==_ma============ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ; format="flowed" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable OWC CAMPAIGN NEWS - distributed by the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights, c/o S.F. Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94109. To UNSUSCRIBE from this list, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297. Visit out website at: http://www.geocities.com/owc_2000 . (Please excuse duplicate postings, and please feel free to re-post.) ------------------- OWC REPORT BACK No. 25 (Russia) IN THIS MESSAGE: 1) Presentation by Dimitri Lobok, Vice chair of the Leningrad=20 Workers' Council (Russia), to the February 13 plenary session of the=20 Open World Conference 2) Report back from National Workers' Conference Against=20 Privatisation, held November 26-28, 1999, in Vyborg, Russia 3) Document No. 2: Excerpts from November 8, 1999, Letter to OWC=20 Organizing Committee from Igor Gotlib and Dmitri Lobok (Russia) 4) Document No. 3: Documents on the October 13-14, 1999, clash=20 between workers and the police at the Vyborg Paper and Pulp Mill ******************** 1) Presentation by Dimitri Lobok, Vice chair of the Leningrad=20 Workers' Council (Russia), to the February 13 plenary session of the=20 Open World Conference Dear comrades: I greet the delegates to the Open World Conference in Defence of=20 Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights on behalf of the=20 Workers' Council of Leningrad, Russia. While we represent different countries, we have common problems and a=20 common enemy - international capitalism. The Russian workers have=20 learned all about the so-called benefits of the market "reforms." A=20 period of primitive accumulation of capital in Russia has taken=20 place side by side with the most blatant theft of working people,=20 with the intent to take away their basic needs. The Russian entrepreneurs took the easy way to obtaining=20 super-profits. They simply ignored the Labour Code. This became a=20 common practice: They stopped giving vacations and pregnancy leave.=20 They did away with labour codes and labour contracts. They did away=20 with paying wages on time, if at all. The late payment of salaries=20 and the violation of labor norms became the rule. Being afraid of organised protests from workers, the businessmen, the=20 employers and the government are trying to change the labour codes to=20 limit the rights of unions and workers. International capital presses=20 to clear the road for the transnational corporations to have their=20 way in Russia - just as they are doing everywhere else. The destruction of labour codes is the goal of national and=20 international capital. In 1998, the then-Prime Minister of Russia, Mr=20 Kurienko, reported to the IMF about the government's desire to enact=20 a new labour code. But the financial crisis that developed soon after=20 did not allow the government to change the labour code in Russia. The=20 following prime ministers have said nothing about changing the labour=20 code in Russia, but they are waiting for the moment to do so. What is the essence of the reform of the labour code? The new=20 proposed labour code would end the social gains of workers in Russia,=20 would create a 12-hour workday, and would give the employers a free=20 hand to fire workers at will. The trade unions under the proposed=20 labour code would be given only one right - the right to inspect=20 workers at their workplaces and write complaints. The employers and their agents in government also want to leave in=20 place the fine system that was created back in Czarist Russia at the=20 beginning of the century. They want to institute the dictatorship of=20 the employers. In response to this situation, there were mass protests back in=20 1998-99. The workers and the labour unions fought back to prevent the=20 employers from changing the labour code. The labour organisations are=20 working against the government's desire to change the labour code. In November 1999 just outside the city of Vyborg, near Leningrad,=20 there was a conference which brought together representative trade=20 unions and workers' committees from 15 regions and 22 cities across=20 Russia. The delegates voted a resolution demanding that the=20 government leave unchanged the labour code in Russia. The conference=20 also demanded that corporations that do not abide by the old labour=20 code be held criminally responsible and be held accountable by the=20 workers' movement. [See report below on the Vyborg conference.] The participants of this conference in Vyborg adopted a special=20 statement for submission to this San Francisco OWC conference=20 concerning the urgency of the ratification and implementation of the=20 ILO Conventions. All Russian workers who have experienced the so-called benefits of=20 the liberal market reforms carried out in Russia under the=20 dictatorship of the IMF, say that the labour codes that preserve our=20 rights should not be changed. We are saying "no" to the destruction of our labour code. We are=20 saying "no" to a new labour code. We are saying "no" to the=20 dictatorship of international capital. Long live the international=20 union! ******************** 2) Report back from National Workers' Conference Against=20 Privatisation, held November 26-28, 1999, in Vyborg, Russia NATIONAL WORKERS CONFERENCE AGAINST PRlVATISATlON November 26-28, 1999 - Sovetsky, Russia (with the participation of 68 delegates from 33 factories in 22=20 cities from throughout Russia) - report prepared by Daniel Shapira and Bronislaw Slupek - A delegation of the French Workers Party was invited to participate=20 in the National Workers Conference Against Privatisation in Russia on=20 November 26-28, 1999. The Conference took place 150 km. from St=20 Petersburg (former Leningrad), in the town of Sovetsky, just outside=20 of Vyborg, in a paper and pulp mill which has become a reference=20 point for the fighting workers' movement throughout Russia. In that factory, the workers drove out the private owners and their=20 armed guards and are trying to re-organise production under their own=20 control. The Conference was convened following armed confrontations=20 with the police in that factory. [See documents below about the=20 situation at the Vyborg mill.] We addressed the conference in the name of the International Liaison=20 Committee for a Workers' International (ILC). A coordinating=20 committee has been set up by the conference, which adopted several=20 resolutions, and among them a resolution in support of the Open World=20 Conference of San Francisco. We present here the most salient aspects=20 of this conference. ----- Sixty-eight delegates from 33 factories in 22 cities, representing=20 many regions of Russia, were present. There were also many invited=20 guests. The delegates were sent by workers' committees or trade=20 unions in their factories. The conference had been prepared by an=20 organising committee comprising representatives from three firms. The=20 presiding committee included the president of the paper pulp factory=20 workers' committee in Vyborg, the vice president of the Leningrad=20 steel factory trade union, and Tamara, the president of the printing=20 industry trade union in Saint Petersburg. We reprint below excerpts from some of the interventions of the delegates. A delegate from Laroslavl, vice president of the Diesel factory committee: Worker leaders are meeting here. We were not united before. The=20 Laroslavl factory is the motor of the economy of the city, which has=20 600,000 inhabitants. Everything depends upon the factory. If the=20 factory stops, the town dies. We created a permanent strike committee in February 1997. We also=20 created a permanent organising committee, linking the representatives=20 of various factories of the same branch of industry.. We are going to=20 set up a coordinationg committee of the whole region for the=20 organisation of strikes. Miners on strike demonstrated in Red Square in Moscow. We met them.=20 We wanted to organise a sympathy actions for the miners' strike, but=20 we did not get the authorisation. Still we were able to write down a=20 list of demands and to organise a picket line in front of the House=20 of Government. Our demands are both political - "Down with the President!" - and=20 economic - "Total re-nationalisation of all the means of production!" Another delegate: I come from a small town where there is only one firm. The State=20 stopped subsidising the company in April 1994, and this led to a huge=20 accumulation of wage arrears. We went on strike for three days, then=20 the wages were paid. This proved they had the money. The workers=20 created a strike committee and organised strikes for a period of=20 about two months, and the factory stopped functioning. The strike=20 committee took over production and began controlling where the goods=20 were sent to. But then a lot of people could no longer wait for their=20 wages and many of them left the firm. A delegate from the Far East region: I come form Vladivostock. I am very happy to be here among you. I am=20 the representative of the Union of Workers' Committees in my region.=20 Please allow me, in the name of the workers' committees and of=20 Communists, to greet all those who are meeting in this room and who=20 are raising high the flag of the workers' struggle for their rights. A delegate from a region of Siberia: Please allow me to greet the employees and workers of the paper and=20 pulp factory who invited us here. Our region is on the other side of=20 the Urals. In our small town, one could find 7% of the chemical=20 weapons of the world. Our town was established 92 years ago. Those in=20 power now have decided to privatise our firm, which produces bread.=20 We were confronted with the same situation as many other firms: no=20 wages. Workers' wage are around 1800 to 2000 rubles (about $100 a month),=20 while the director's wage reaches 3000 roubles ($150). They have done=20 everything they can to maintain the factory's activity and to pay the=20 wages. But on October 15, the same thing happened to us as happened=20 to you here one day earlier: An armed gang with chemical weapons=20 tried to take over the factory; 38 people were wounded, but they were=20 repelled. The entire strike committee is under the direction of the trade union=20 committee. The trade union committee has organised a watch over the=20 factory. We set up video cameras and we were able to film all the=20 events. A Member of Parliament of the State Duma (parliament): What is happening here in this hall might be one of the most=20 important events of the labour history of Russia of these last years.=20 This is the first time that in this firm, your firm, the working=20 class explained what its rights were and what it wanted. Nobody else=20 will do what the workers have to do. One must understand who are the producers and who are those who=20 profit from production. Workers are the only ones who produce; the=20 others are consumers. Workers here have said for the first time that=20 they want to control their production. But even if it is well=20 organised, a workers' organisation cannot act alone. Therefore we=20 must unite. We must unite all these similar efforts from Kaliningrad=20 to Vladivostok. The media won't help us do that. We must promote our=20 own candidates at all levels. We need to consolidate the whole of the=20 workers' movement. A woman delegate: We are talking about workers who earn very low wages. It is very=20 difficult to push them to action. We don't need to discuss any=20 longer, we need to act. As the struggle goes on in several firms, we=20 propose to create a coordinating committee. I call for action, not=20 discussion. The vice president of the trade union committee of Cvoroniecz: They tried to privatise our factory four times, but we successfully=20 organised our own defence. We organised a strike picket line. We=20 learned that workers at another factory also went on strike. We must=20 unite. But with whom? Maybe not with some parties and committees, but=20 certainly with the committees which workers have to set up. We have=20 common problems. We are ready to collaborate with other organised=20 structures - not with the so-called leaders, but with the workers'=20 committees. A delegate: I represent the workers' committee of a small city near Moscow. The=20 major part of the factories are in the war industry and have stopped=20 functioning. Our factory produces turbines for submarines. As=20 everywhere else, workers were forced to sell their shares.=20 Thirty-five percent of these shares were bought by Siemens. A representative of the Vyborg paper and pulp mill: We wish to submit the proposal to set up a coordinating centre. We=20 need it, not only for the factories on strike, but for all the firms=20 where workers are fighting to take the control of their firm. We have=20 a right to be paid our back wages, to be protected by Labour laws. It=20 is absolutely necessary to create this coordinating centre. What should we do? We must organise a political and social movement=20 of all workers. This is not an abstraction, our own life is at stake.=20 If we satisfy ourselves with mere words, this conference will be=20 worth nothing. A delegate: Concerning the question of ownership, trade unions say nothing about=20 it. We support Vyborg workers and we will talk about it, but we would=20 like to suggest that a leaflet be printed to explain what occurred=20 here. Another delegate, president of the strike committee of a weapons'=20 factory north of Saint Petersburg: Our workers' council wrote down proposals for this conference. We=20 have drawn up a list of demands for this gathering in Vyborg; 18=20 other factories support these demands, and there are more to come. A delegate from the steel factory of Saint Petersburg: Nobody talked about the system we should support: capitalism or=20 socialism. Our aim is socialism. We need Members of Parliament (MPs)=20 to vote against those who vote against workers. We need a higher=20 minimum wage. None of the privatisation measures are legal, we must impose the=20 re-nationalisation of the factories. A journalist asked me if we=20 called for war. I answered him that we are already in a state of war.=20 We must remain on firm positions and not allow ourselves to be lured=20 into the trap of conciliation, because there is nothing to discuss=20 with the owners. We must say in a resolution that there should be=20 workers in the Duma (parliament). In the final resolution, we must=20 say that the IMF are criminals, that they should be judged and that=20 no privatisation can be legal. Tamara: I would like to say that workers' committees are the only ones able=20 to organise the mobilisation. Those who talk here of parties do that=20 because we are in an election period. When these parties take a=20 stand, it is because of the elections. The problem is that workers' committees are not represented in the=20 parliament. We absolutely need a coordinating committee to circulate=20 information and exchange our experiences. Each one of us is the=20 representative of a firm. Situations are often similar and still we are not informed, and we=20 are forced to repeat experiences. We had a left majority in the Duma, and what good was it for us? This=20 majority is not the union we are talking about here. MPs have not=20 understood what we want, and what we want and need is unity among the=20 fighting forces. ---------- After the debate, several resolutions were submitted to the=20 discussion. Workers' democracy prevailed throughout the conference=20 and discussions; there were contradictory votes. The resolution to support the Open World Conference in San Francisco=20 was adopted unanimously. ******************** 3) Document No. 2: Excerpts from November 8, 1999, Letter to OWC=20 Organizing Committee from Igor Gotlib and Dmitri Lobok (Russia) Dear Organizers of the Open World Conference, We are sending you a number of materials concerning the workers'=20 struggle in our region, centered around the conflict at the Vyborg=20 Pulp and Paper Mill (in Russian, VTsBK - "Vyborgsky=20 tsellyulozno-bumazhny kombinat"). This situation illustrates the destructive and devastating=20 consequences of privatization in Russian industries. It also allows=20 us to see the first steps of the reawakening workers' movement in=20 Russia and the problems and complications it is faced with. We include below two statements by the trade union leadership of St.=20 Petersburg (Leningrad) and Leningrad region as well as an article=20 from the Moscow Times dated October 15. This material can give a=20 general understanding of the conflict and of the attitudes shown by=20 unionists. International solidarity with the workers of VTsBK, whose main demand=20 is annulling the privatization of their plant, will be appreciated by=20 all worker militants in our region and in Russia as a whole. In this=20 regard, we read in a posting on the website of the Federation of=20 Independent Trade Unions of Russia/FITUR (www.trud.org) that the=20 International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) issued a statement opposing the authorities' repressive actio= ns against the VTsBK workers. Messages expressing the solidarity with the workers of VTsBK can be=20 sent by FAX to the governor of Leningrad region, Valery Serdyukov,=20 and to the Vyborg district administration. Also please FAX copies of=20 these letters to VTsBK. The addresses, phone and FAX numbers are: Address of the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill: 188918 Leningrad region, Vyborg district, pos. Sovetsky, ul.=20 Zavodskaya 4 fax: (812-78)74-886 phone/fax of trade union committee:=20 (812-78)74-370 Address of the Leningrad region government: St-Petersburg, Suvorovsky pr. 67 fax: (812)271-56-27 phone:=20 (812)315-86-65 e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED] governor Serdyukov Valery=20 Pavlovich Address of the Vyborg district administration: fax: (812-78)231-63 phone: (812-78)222-27 We also inform you, that on November 26-27, 1999, a conference will=20 be held in Sovetsky (the small town where VTsBK is located) with the=20 participation of worker and trade union militants from all regions of=20 Russia. The main topic of the conference will be the experience of=20 Russian workers' movement in its struggle against violations of=20 workers' rights, the destruction of jobs and other consequences of=20 the privatizations and of the barbaric policies of global capitalism=20 in general. Conference organizers will also propose endorsement of=20 the Open World Conference in San Francisco. [See report above.] Trade unionists and militants from other countries are also invited=20 to participate in this conference. The conference is being organized=20 by the Coordination Council of Industrial Enterprises of St.=20 Petersburg and Leningrad region, which includes labor union leaders=20 and militants from large industrial enterprises. The leaders of the=20 Council already endorsed the "Open Letter to the Heads of State=20 Attending the WTO Summit in Seattle" promoted by the OWC Organizing=20 Committee and the Open Letter to Clinton to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal. With fraternal greetings, Igor Gotlib and Dmitri Lobok ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= -- 4) Document No. 3: Documents on the October 13-14 clash between=20 workers and the police at the Vyborg Paper and Pulp Mill * Clashes Erupt at Disputed Paper Mill (Moscow Times Friday, October 15, 1999 - excerpts) By Anna Badkhen, Staff Writer SOVETSKY, Leningrad Region - A bizarre hostage drama unfolded=20 Thursday [October 13] when armed Justice Ministry forces in black ski=20 masks tried to seize a paper mill in the middle of the night on=20 behalf of foreign owners locked out by their employees. In the clash at the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill, eight workers were=20 injured - two of them shot by the officers - and held hostage, the=20 workers said. Other workers, angered by the takeover attempt, beat up the director=20 of the mill who was appointed by its British owners, his spokesman=20 said. As the standoff continued, hundreds of angry workers and police=20 surrounded the plant, 140 kilometers north of St. Petersburg near the=20 =46innish border. The violence was set off when some 30 Taifun officers from the=20 regional department of the Justice Ministry arrived at the mill with=20 court officials at 2 a.m. Thursday. They clashed with eight workers,=20 whom they held for 12 hours in the dining hall on the second floor of=20 the administration building. The windows on the second floor were=20 shattered. =8A Taifun officers arrived to fulfill an arbitration court order to put=20 an end to a 21-month standoff between the workers of the Vyborg Pulp=20 and Paper Mill and their foreign owners. Although the mill has been=20 under British management since 1997, the workers have never allowed=20 the owners to set foot on the plant's premises. In 1997, the state-owned mill was purchased by British-based Nimonor=20 Investment Ltd. But the factory workers refused to let the new owners=20 onto mill territory unless they paid the workers roughly 42 million=20 rubles (then about $8 million) in wage arrears. The workers, who elected their own director, Alexander Vantorin, and=20 barricaded the entrance to the mill, also threatened to block the=20 international highway between St. Petersburg and Finland. The arbitration court ruled the actions of the mill workers illegal=20 in May 1998 and demanded that the owners be allowed to enter the=20 premises, but the workers ignored the court decision. Unable to=20 control the mill, Nimonor Investment sold it to another British=20 company, Alcem UK Ltd. But in July of this year, when arbitration court officials,=20 Alcem-appointed director Sabadash and six policemen attempted to=20 enter the mill, the workers again threatened to block the Finland=20 highway and Vantorin barricaded himself inside the director's office=20 of the mill. Sabadash promised that no one would be fired from the mill, that $1=20 million in wage arrears, taxes and factory debt would be paid=20 immediately after he took office, and that Alcem was ready to spend=20 up to $20 million to purchase new mill equipment. But the workers do not trust him. "We were told that Alcem is planning to turn the mill into a plywood=20 factory, and if they do, a majority of the workers will be fired,"=20 said Vera Gaidaman, one of the mill's 2,000 workers. "If the workers=20 lose the mill, they will have nowhere to go, nothing to eat." Meanwhile, Gaidaman said, the workers have been operating the mill=20 since February, receiving monthly salaries of about 1,500 rubles=20 (about $60). According to the Leningrad region administration, in=20 August the mill worked at 64 percent capacity, producing cellulose,=20 wallpaper and paper. According to a law enforcement official cited by Interfax, Taifun had=20 prepared Thursday's action in such secrecy that even the St.=20 Petersburg and Leningrad region police knew nothing about it. - Anna Shcherbakova contributed to this report ------------------- STATEMENT of the Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Regi= on October 14, 1999 On the night of October 13-14, an attempt was made to seize the=20 territory of the enterprise "Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill" ("Vyborgsky=20 tsellyulozno-bumazhny kombinat", VTsBK), using arms and=20 hostage-taking. This is the continuation of a whole series of unlawful actions and=20 illegal attempts to decide the issue of ownership without full and=20 fair trial. Both the government commission of Leningrad region, in=20 its conclusions, and the State Duma commission point directly to the=20 fact that the privatization of the enterprise was made contrary to=20 the state interests and was not aimed at organization of efficient=20 production or its development; new "bosses" at once announced massive=20 dismissals and a sale of assets. The protest made by the prosecutor's office of Leningrad region=20 confirms that the privatization of VTsBK was carried out with gross=20 violations of bankruptcy proceedings rules on behalf of persons who=20 decided to take over the high-profitable enterprise for a song, by=20 all means. The Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region=20 protests vigorously against attempts to solve the juridical issue by=20 force. We feel indignant at the news about the use of arms and people=20 injured as a result of this conflict. We call upon the governor of Leningrad region, V. P. Serdyukov; the=20 president's representative in Leningrad region, G.S. Poltavchenko;=20 heads of law-enforcement agencies - demanding to take all measures=20 in order to prevent arbitrary actions, violence, beating of workers=20 defending the enterprise. Delaying of the juridical solution of the conflict will lead to a=20 further destabilization of the situation in the town of Sovetsky and=20 in the Vyborg district of the Leningrad region. We call upon the=20 parties in the conflict to refrain from using force and to free=20 hostages. We propose to establish an operative commission, including=20 representatives of the government of the region, the prosecutor's=20 office, law-enforcement agencies, the workers' collective, the=20 organization considering itself as the owner of the enterprise, and=20 trade unions, to settle the conflict arisen. Chairman of the Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and=20 Leningrad Region E. I. Makarov ----------------------- STATEMENT of the Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and=20 Leningrad Region and the regional committee of the Trade Union of=20 Workers of Wood and Timber Industries St. Petersburg, October 19, 1999 For the first time on the territory of Russian Federation, state=20 agencies used arms and hostage-taking against the workers of an=20 enterprise during the night shift. Such actions at the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill (VTsBK) on the night=20 of October 13-14 demonstrated with full certainty what methods and=20 means are used in the end of the second stage of privatization.=20 =46orce, arms, "spetsnaz"; this is the new terminology of the fathers=20 of "reforming" the economy, replacing abstruse "voucher,=20 liberalization, macroeconomics". Apparently, they cannot solve the=20 most important problem of social relations, the problem of ownership,=20 by other means. One of the most modern plants, flagship of the pulp and paper=20 industry of the North-West of Russia, the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill=20 was bankrupted and sold for a song in an unprecedented short time,=20 and then left to its fate. One can only guess what resources were put=20 into action, in order to oust this economic player from the market of=20 wood pulp and paper production. The privatization carried out against the state interests, for the=20 benefit of a fictitious firm, registration of which is not confirmed=20 neither by the British consulate, nor by the regional bureau of=20 Interpol - is recognized as lawful by the authorities of Leningrad=20 region, although the regional prosecutor filed a bill to qualify all=20 the privatization as unlawful as early as in February 1999. The bill=20 still remains unconsidered, and the authorities, pressured by the=20 "new owners", with perseverance deserving better use, are=20 implementing the decision questioned by the prosecutor. However, the residents of the small town of Sovetsky - named after a=20 pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, who died during the Great Patriotic=20 War - see the mill as their only hope for survival. Not=20 sophisticated in juridical niceties, they have risen to the defence=20 of their constitutional rights. They have risen to the defence of=20 their jobs, their right to work, and, taking into account that all=20 functioning of the town depends on the mill, - their right to life. The state that has written the definition "social" in its=20 Constitution, has proved to be unable, in the end of 20th century, to=20 leave behind the methods of shooting up workers at Lena in 1912 and=20 of the slaughter in Novocherkassk in 1962. Thereby, the state has demonstrated to all present and future owners=20 of property, how it is going to solve problems of this kind. The most shameful is the fact that, by order of the bureaucrats of=20 the Justice Ministry, the storm-troopers of the "Taifun" special=20 unit, trained to "pacify" the prisoners, were flung twice against the=20 workers of VTsBK. * We note our categorical protest against the use of violence,=20 against the medieval savagery and cruelty of taking and holding=20 hostages, smashing the workers' canteen, offices of the=20 administration and the trade union committee of VTsBK. * We demand, from the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation,=20 full investigation of the facts of beating of workers, using arms,=20 doing material damage, stealing of office appliances, personal=20 belongings of employees and trade union fees from the rooms visited=20 by the representatives of state agencies. * We demand, from the Government of the Russian Federation, immediate=20 administrative settlement of this conflict for the benefit of the=20 residents of the town and the VTsBK workers who have proven that they=20 are able both to work efficiently and to manage the enterprise. * We demand ousting those persons from law-enforcement agencies and=20 Leningrad region government structures, who sanctioned, planned and=20 performed the violent action at VTsBK, and those who, being among the=20 perpetrators, did not stand in the way of the violence. Chairman of the Trade Union Federation of St.Petersburg and=20 Leningrad Region E. I. Makarov Chairman of the regional committee of the Trade Union of Workers of=20 Wood and Timber Industries Yu. A. Gushchin --============_-1254818101==_ma============ Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable OWC CAMPAIGN NEWS - distributed by the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights, c/o S.F. Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94109. To UNSUSCRIBE from this list, send a message to <<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297. Visit out website at: http://www.geocities.com/owc_2000 . (Please excuse duplicate postings, and please feel free to re-post.)=20 -------------------=20 <fontfamily><param>New_York</param>OWC REPORT BACK No. 25 (Russia) IN THIS MESSAGE: 1) Presentation by Dimitri Lobok, Vice chair of the Leningrad Workers' Council (Russia), to the February 13 plenary session of the Open World Conference 2) Report back from National Workers' Conference Against Privatisation, held November 26-28, 1999, in Vyborg, Russia 3) Document No. 2: Excerpts from November 8, 1999, Letter to OWC Organizing Committee from Igor Gotlib and Dmitri Lobok (Russia) 4) Document No. 3: Documents on the October 13-14, 1999, clash between workers and the police at the Vyborg Paper and Pulp Mill ******************** 1) Presentation by Dimitri Lobok, Vice chair of the Leningrad Workers' Council (Russia), to the February 13 plenary session of the Open World Conference Dear comrades: I greet the delegates to the Open World Conference in Defence of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights on behalf of the Workers' Council of Leningrad, Russia. While we represent different countries, we have common problems and a common enemy - international capitalism. The Russian workers have learned all about the so-called benefits of the market "reforms." A period of primitive accumulation of capital in Russia has taken place side by side with the most blatant theft of working people, with the intent to take away their basic needs. The Russian entrepreneurs took the easy way to obtaining super-profits. They simply ignored the Labour Code. This became a common practice: They stopped giving vacations and pregnancy leave. They did away with labour codes and labour contracts. They did away with paying wages on time, if at all. The late payment of salaries and the violation of labor norms became the rule. Being afraid of organised protests from workers, the businessmen, the employers and the government are trying to change the labour codes to limit the rights of unions and workers. International capital presses to clear the road for the transnational corporations to have their way in Russia - just as they are doing everywhere else. The destruction of labour codes is the goal of national and international capital. In 1998, the then-Prime Minister of Russia, Mr Kurienko, reported to the IMF about the government's desire to enact a new labour code. But the financial crisis that developed soon after did not allow the government to change the labour code in Russia. The following prime ministers have said nothing about changing the labour code in Russia, but they are waiting for the moment to do so. What is the essence of the reform of the labour code? The new proposed labour code would end the social gains of workers in Russia, would create a 12-hour workday, and would give the employers a free hand to fire workers at will. The trade unions under the proposed labour code would be given only one right - the right to inspect workers at their workplaces and write complaints. The employers and their agents in government also want to leave in place the fine system that was created back in Czarist Russia at the beginning of the century. They want to institute the dictatorship of the employers. In response to this situation, there were mass protests back in 1998-99. The workers and the labour unions fought back to prevent the employers from changing the labour code. The labour organisations are working against the government's desire to change the labour code.=20 In November 1999 just outside the city of Vyborg, near Leningrad, there was a conference which brought together representative trade unions and workers' committees from 15 regions and 22 cities across Russia. The delegates voted a resolution demanding that the government leave unchanged the labour code in Russia. The conference also demanded that corporations that do not abide by the old labour code be held criminally responsible and be held accountable by the workers' movement. [See report below on the Vyborg conference.] The participants of this conference in Vyborg adopted a special statement for submission to this San Francisco OWC conference concerning the urgency of the ratification and implementation of the ILO Conventions. All Russian workers who have experienced the so-called benefits of the liberal market reforms carried out in Russia under the dictatorship of the IMF, say that the labour codes that preserve our rights should not be changed. We are saying "no" to the destruction of our labour code. We are saying "no" to a new labour code. We are saying "no" to the dictatorship of international capital. Long live the international union! ******************** 2) Report back from National Workers' Conference Against Privatisation, held November 26-28, 1999, in Vyborg, Russia <bold>NATIONAL WORKERS CONFERENCE AGAINST PRlVATISATlON </bold>November 26-28, 1999 - Sovetsky, Russia (with the participation of 68 delegates from 33 factories in 22 cities from throughout Russia) - report prepared by Daniel Shapira and Bronislaw Slupek -=20 A delegation of the French Workers Party was invited to participate in the National Workers Conference Against Privatisation in Russia on November 26-28, 1999. The Conference took place 150 km. from St Petersburg (former Leningrad), in the town of Sovetsky, just outside of Vyborg, in a paper and pulp mill which has become a reference point for the fighting workers' movement throughout Russia. In that factory, the workers drove out the private owners and their armed guards and are trying to re-organise production under their own control. The Conference was convened following armed confrontations with the police in that factory. [See documents below about the situation at the Vyborg mill.] We addressed the conference in the name of the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International (ILC). A coordinating committee has been set up by the conference, which adopted several resolutions, and among them a resolution in support of the Open World Conference of San Francisco. We present here the most salient aspects of this conference. ----- Sixty-eight delegates from 33 factories in 22 cities, representing many regions of Russia, were present. There were also many invited guests. The delegates were sent by workers' committees or trade unions in their factories. The conference had been prepared by an organising committee comprising representatives from three firms. The presiding committee included the president of the paper pulp factory workers' committee in Vyborg, the vice president of the Leningrad steel factory trade union, and Tamara, the president of the printing industry trade union in Saint Petersburg. We reprint below excerpts from some of the interventions of the delegates. <underline>A delegate from Laroslavl, vice president of the Diesel factory committee: </underline>Worker leaders are meeting here. We were not united before. The Laroslavl factory is the motor of the economy of the city, which has 600,000 inhabitants. Everything depends upon the factory. If the factory stops, the town dies. We created a permanent strike committee in February 1997. We also created a permanent organising committee, linking the representatives of various factories of the same branch of industry.. We are going to set up a coordinationg committee of the whole region for the organisation of strikes. Miners on strike demonstrated in Red Square in Moscow. We met them. We wanted to organise a sympathy actions for the miners' strike, but we did not get the authorisation. Still we were able to write down a list of demands and to organise a picket line in front of the House of Government. Our demands are both political - "Down with the President!" - and economic - "Total re-nationalisation of all the means of production!" <underline>Another delegate: </underline>I come from a small town where there is only one firm. The State stopped subsidising the company in April 1994, and this led to a huge accumulation of wage arrears. We went on strike for three days, then the wages were paid. This proved they had the money. The workers created a strike committee and organised strikes for a period of about two months, and the factory stopped functioning. The strike committee took over production and began controlling where the goods were sent to. But then a lot of people could no longer wait for their wages and many of them left the firm. <underline>A delegate from the Far East region: </underline>I come form Vladivostock. I am very happy to be here among you. I am the representative of the Union of Workers' Committees in my region. Please allow me, in the name of the workers' committees and of Communists, to greet all those who are meeting in this room and who are raising high the flag of the workers' struggle for their rights. <underline>A delegate from a region of Siberia: </underline>Please allow me to greet the employees and workers of the paper and pulp factory who invited us here. Our region is on the other side of the Urals. In our small town, one could find 7% of the chemical weapons of the world. Our town was established 92 years ago. Those in power now have decided to privatise our firm, which produces bread. We were confronted with the same situation as many other firms: no wages. Workers' wage are around 1800 to 2000 rubles (about $100 a month), while the director's wage reaches 3000 roubles ($150). They have done everything they can to maintain the factory's activity and to pay the wages. But on October 15, the same thing happened to us as happened to you here one day earlier: An armed gang with chemical weapons tried to take over the factory; 38 people were wounded, but they were repelled. The entire strike committee is under the direction of the trade union committee. The trade union committee has organised a watch over the factory. We set up video cameras and we were able to film all the events. <underline>A Member of Parliament of the State Duma (parliament): </underline>What is happening here in this hall might be one of the most important events of the labour history of Russia of these last years. This is the first time that in this firm, your firm, the working class explained what its rights were and what it wanted. Nobody else will do what the workers have to do. One must understand who are the producers and who are those who profit from production. Workers are the only ones who produce; the others are consumers. Workers here have said for the first time that they want to control their production. But even if it is well organised, a workers' organisation cannot act alone. Therefore we must unite. We must unite all these similar efforts from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. The media won't help us do that. We must promote our own candidates at all levels. We need to consolidate the whole of the workers' movement. <underline>A woman delegate: </underline>We are talking about workers who earn very low wages. It is very difficult to push them to action. We don't need to discuss any longer, we need to act. As the struggle goes on in several firms, we propose to create a coordinating committee. I call for action, not discussion. <underline>The vice president of the trade union committee of Cvoroniecz: </underline>They tried to privatise our factory four times, but we successfully organised our own defence. We organised a strike picket line. We learned that workers at another factory also went on strike. We must unite. But with whom? Maybe not with some parties and committees, but certainly with the committees which workers have to set up. We have common problems. We are ready to collaborate with other organised structures - not with the so-called leaders, but with the workers' committees. <underline>A delegate: </underline>I represent the workers' committee of a small city near Moscow. The major part of the factories are in the war industry and have stopped functioning. Our factory produces turbines for submarines. As everywhere else, workers were forced to sell their shares. Thirty-five percent of these shares were bought by Siemens. <underline>A representative of the Vyborg paper and pulp mill: </underline>We wish to submit the proposal to set up a coordinating centre. We need it, not only for the factories on strike, but for all the firms where workers are fighting to take the control of their firm. We have a right to be paid our back wages, to be protected by Labour laws. It is absolutely necessary to create this coordinating centre. What should we do? We must organise a political and social movement of all workers. This is not an abstraction, our own life is at stake. If we satisfy ourselves with mere words, this conference will be worth nothing. <underline>A delegate: </underline>Concerning the question of ownership, trade unions say nothing about it. We support Vyborg workers and we will talk about it, but we would like to suggest that a leaflet be printed to explain what occurred here. <underline>Another delegate, president of the strike committee of a weapons' factory north of Saint Petersburg: </underline>Our workers' council wrote down proposals for this conference. We have drawn up a list of demands for this gathering in Vyborg; 18 other factories support these demands, and there are more to come. <underline>A delegate from the steel factory of Saint Petersburg: </underline>Nobody talked about the system we should support: capitalism or socialism. Our aim is socialism. We need Members of Parliament (MPs) to vote against those who vote against workers. We need a higher minimum wage. None of the privatisation measures are legal, we must impose the re-nationalisation of the factories. A journalist asked me if we called for war. I answered him that we are already in a state of war. We must remain on firm positions and not allow ourselves to be lured into the trap of conciliation, because there is nothing to discuss with the owners. We must say in a resolution that there should be workers in the Duma (parliament). In the final resolution, we must say that the IMF are criminals, that they should be judged and that no privatisation can be legal. <underline>Tamara</underline>: I would like to say that workers' committees are the only ones able to organise the mobilisation. Those who talk here of parties do that because we are in an election period. When these parties take a stand, it is because of the elections. The problem is that workers' committees are not represented in the parliament. We absolutely need a coordinating committee to circulate information and exchange our experiences. Each one of us is the representative of a firm. Situations are often similar and still we are not informed, and we are forced to repeat experiences. We had a left majority in the Duma, and what good was it for us? This majority is not the union we are talking about here. MPs have not understood what we want, and what we want and need is unity among the fighting forces. ---------- After the debate, several resolutions were submitted to the discussion. Workers' democracy prevailed throughout the conference and discussions; there were contradictory votes. The resolution to support the Open World Conference in San Francisco was adopted unanimously. ******************** 3) Document No. 2: Excerpts from November 8, 1999, Letter to OWC Organizing Committee from Igor Gotlib and Dmitri Lobok (Russia) Dear Organizers of the Open World Conference, We are sending you a number of materials concerning the workers' struggle in our region, centered around the conflict at the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill (in Russian, VTsBK - "Vyborgsky tsellyulozno-bumazhny kombinat").=20 This situation illustrates the destructive and devastating consequences of privatization in Russian industries. It also allows us to see the first steps of the reawakening workers' movement in Russia and the problems and complications it is faced with. We include below two statements by the trade union leadership of St. Petersburg (Leningrad) and Leningrad region as well as an article from the Moscow Times dated October 15. This material can give a general understanding of the conflict and of the attitudes shown by unionists. International solidarity with the workers of VTsBK, whose main demand is annulling the privatization of their plant, will be appreciated by all worker militants in our region and in Russia as a whole. In this regard, we read in a posting on the website of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia/FITUR (www.trud.org) that the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) issued a statement opposing the authorities' repressive actions against the VTsBK workers. Messages expressing the solidarity with the workers of VTsBK can be sent by FAX to the governor of Leningrad region, Valery Serdyukov, and to the Vyborg district administration. Also please FAX copies of these letters to VTsBK. The addresses, phone and FAX numbers are: Address of the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill: 188918 Leningrad region, Vyborg district, pos. Sovetsky, ul. Zavodskaya 4 fax: (812-78)74-886 phone/fax of trade union committee: (812-78)74-370 Address of the Leningrad region government: St-Petersburg, Suvorovsky pr. 67 fax: (812)271-56-27 phone: (812)315-86-65 e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED] governor Serdyukov Valery Pavlovich Address of the Vyborg district administration: fax: (812-78)231-63 phone: (812-78)222-27 We also inform you, that on November 26-27, 1999, a conference will be held in Sovetsky (the small town where VTsBK is located) with the participation of worker and trade union militants from all regions of Russia. The main topic of the conference will be the experience of Russian workers' movement in its struggle against violations of workers' rights, the destruction of jobs and other consequences of the privatizations and of the barbaric policies of global capitalism in general. Conference organizers will also propose endorsement of the Open World Conference in San Francisco. [See report above.] Trade unionists and militants from other countries are also invited to participate in this conference. The conference is being organized by the Coordination Council of Industrial Enterprises of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, which includes labor union leaders and militants from large industrial enterprises. The leaders of the Council already endorsed the "Open Letter to the Heads of State Attending the WTO Summit in Seattle" promoted by the OWC Organizing Committee and the Open Letter to Clinton to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal. With fraternal greetings, Igor Gotlib and Dmitri Lobok ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= -- 4) Document No. 3: Documents on the October 13-14 clash between workers and the police at the Vyborg Paper and Pulp Mill * Clashes Erupt at Disputed Paper Mill=20 (Moscow Times Friday, October 15, 1999 - excerpts) By Anna Badkhen, Staff Writer SOVETSKY, Leningrad Region - A bizarre hostage drama unfolded Thursday [October 13] when armed Justice Ministry forces in black ski masks tried to seize a paper mill in the middle of the night on behalf of foreign owners locked out by their employees. In the clash at the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill, eight workers were injured - two of them shot by the officers - and held hostage, the workers said. Other workers, angered by the takeover attempt, beat up the director of the mill who was appointed by its British owners, his spokesman said. As the standoff continued, hundreds of angry workers and police surrounded the plant, 140 kilometers north of St. Petersburg near the =46innish border. The violence was set off when some 30 Taifun officers from the regional department of the Justice Ministry arrived at the mill with court officials at 2 a.m. Thursday. They clashed with eight workers, whom they held for 12 hours in the dining hall on the second floor of the administration building. The windows on the second floor were shattered. =8A Taifun officers arrived to fulfill an arbitration court order to put an end to a 21-month standoff between the workers of the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill and their foreign owners. Although the mill has been under British management since 1997, the workers have never allowed the owners to set foot on the plant's premises. In 1997, the state-owned mill was purchased by British-based Nimonor Investment Ltd. But the factory workers refused to let the new owners onto mill territory unless they paid the workers roughly 42 million rubles (then about $8 million) in wage arrears. The workers, who elected their own director, Alexander Vantorin, and barricaded the entrance to the mill, also threatened to block the international highway between St. Petersburg and Finland. The arbitration court ruled the actions of the mill workers illegal in May 1998 and demanded that the owners be allowed to enter the premises, but the workers ignored the court decision. Unable to control the mill, Nimonor Investment sold it to another British company, Alcem UK Ltd. But in July of this year, when arbitration court officials, Alcem-appointed director Sabadash and six policemen attempted to enter the mill, the workers again threatened to block the Finland highway and Vantorin barricaded himself inside the director's office of the mill. Sabadash promised that no one would be fired from the mill, that $1 million in wage arrears, taxes and factory debt would be paid immediately after he took office, and that Alcem was ready to spend up to $20 million to purchase new mill equipment. But the workers do not trust him. "We were told that Alcem is planning to turn the mill into a plywood factory, and if they do, a majority of the workers will be fired," said Vera Gaidaman, one of the mill's 2,000 workers. "If the workers lose the mill, they will have nowhere to go, nothing to eat." Meanwhile, Gaidaman said, the workers have been operating the mill since February, receiving monthly salaries of about 1,500 rubles (about $60). According to the Leningrad region administration, in August the mill worked at 64 percent capacity, producing cellulose, wallpaper and paper. According to a law enforcement official cited by Interfax, Taifun had prepared Thursday's action in such secrecy that even the St. Petersburg and Leningrad region police knew nothing about it. - Anna Shcherbakova contributed to this report ------------------- STATEMENT of the Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region October 14, 1999 On the night of October 13-14, an attempt was made to seize the territory of the enterprise "Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill" ("Vyborgsky tsellyulozno-bumazhny kombinat", VTsBK), using arms and hostage-taking. This is the continuation of a whole series of unlawful actions and illegal attempts to decide the issue of ownership without full and fair trial. Both the government commission of Leningrad region, in its conclusions, and the State Duma commission point directly to the fact that the privatization of the enterprise was made contrary to the state interests and was not aimed at organization of efficient production or its development; new "bosses" at once announced massive dismissals and a sale of assets. The protest made by the prosecutor's office of Leningrad region confirms that the privatization of VTsBK was carried out with gross violations of bankruptcy proceedings rules on behalf of persons who decided to take over the high-profitable enterprise for a song, by all means. The Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region protests vigorously against attempts to solve the juridical issue by force. We feel indignant at the news about the use of arms and people injured as a result of this conflict. We call upon the governor of Leningrad region, V. P. Serdyukov; the president's representative in Leningrad region, G.S. Poltavchenko; heads of law-enforcement agencies - demanding to take all measures in order to prevent arbitrary actions, violence, beating of workers defending the enterprise. Delaying of the juridical solution of the conflict will lead to a further destabilization of the situation in the town of Sovetsky and in the Vyborg district of the Leningrad region. We call upon the parties in the conflict to refrain from using force and to free hostages. We propose to establish an operative commission, including representatives of the government of the region, the prosecutor's office, law-enforcement agencies, the workers' collective, the organization considering itself as the owner of the enterprise, and trade unions, to settle the conflict arisen. Chairman of the Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region E. I. Makarov ----------------------- STATEMENT of the Trade Union Federation of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region and the regional committee of the Trade Union of Workers of Wood and Timber Industries St. Petersburg, October 19, 1999 For the first time on the territory of Russian Federation, state agencies used arms and hostage-taking against the workers of an enterprise during the night shift. Such actions at the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill (VTsBK) on the night of October 13-14 demonstrated with full certainty what methods and means are used in the end of the second stage of privatization. Force, arms, "spetsnaz"; this is the new terminology of the fathers of "reforming" the economy, replacing abstruse "voucher, liberalization, macroeconomics". Apparently, they cannot solve the most important problem of social relations, the problem of ownership, by other means. One of the most modern plants, flagship of the pulp and paper industry of the North-West of Russia, the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill was bankrupted and sold for a song in an unprecedented short time, and then left to its fate. One can only guess what resources were put into action, in order to oust this economic player from the market of wood pulp and paper production. The privatization carried out against the state interests, for the benefit of a fictitious firm, registration of which is not confirmed neither by the British consulate, nor by the regional bureau of Interpol - is recognized as lawful by the authorities of Leningrad region, although the regional prosecutor filed a bill to qualify all the privatization as unlawful as early as in February 1999. The bill still remains unconsidered, and the authorities, pressured by the "new owners", with perseverance deserving better use, are implementing the decision questioned by the prosecutor. However, the residents of the small town of Sovetsky - named after a pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, who died during the Great Patriotic War - see the mill as their only hope for survival. Not sophisticated in juridical niceties, they have risen to the defence of their constitutional rights. They have risen to the defence of their jobs, their right to work, and, taking into account that all functioning of the town depends on the mill, - their right to life. The state that has written the definition "social" in its Constitution, has proved to be unable, in the end of 20th century, to leave behind the methods of shooting up workers at Lena in 1912 and of the slaughter in Novocherkassk in 1962. Thereby, the state has demonstrated to all present and future owners of property, how it is going to solve problems of this kind. The most shameful is the fact that, by order of the bureaucrats of the Justice Ministry, the storm-troopers of the "Taifun" special unit, trained to "pacify" the prisoners, were flung twice against the workers of VTsBK. * We note our categorical protest against the use of violence, against the medieval savagery and cruelty of taking and holding hostages, smashing the workers' canteen, offices of the administration and the trade union committee of VTsBK. * We demand, from the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation, full investigation of the facts of beating of workers, using arms, doing material damage, stealing of office appliances, personal belongings of employees and trade union fees from the rooms visited by the representatives of state agencies. * We demand, from the Government of the Russian Federation, immediate administrative settlement of this conflict for the benefit of the residents of the town and the VTsBK workers who have proven that they are able both to work efficiently and to manage the enterprise. * We demand ousting those persons from law-enforcement agencies and Leningrad region government structures, who sanctioned, planned and performed the violent action at VTsBK, and those who, being among the perpetrators, did not stand in the way of the violence. Chairman of the Trade Union Federation of St.Petersburg and Leningrad Region E. I. Makarov Chairman of the regional committee of the Trade Union of Workers of Wood and Timber Industries Yu. A. Gushchin =20 </fontfamily> --============_-1254818101==_ma============-- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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