> The current issue of the San Francisco Flier contains an article about > labor conditions in Russia that begins as follows: > > > Russia: What’s Up, What’s Down, What’s Left > > At the height of Cold War xenophobia in America there came the > occasional heretical suggestion that were we really interested in > knowing what the Russian people were like, we should simply make an > excursion to our own Midwest. If anything, the comparison understated > the abidingly conservative values of family, custom and sodality > cherished by the Russian populace. Historically their strain of > forbearance has been singularly resolute, as we should at least have > been reminded by the example of their experience in WWII. > > Such heroic patience is the only way to explain the fact that Russian > wage workers have not as yet attempted to seize the country. More than > 20 million people, one Russian worker in four, are not paid regularly. > Another five percent, approaching four million people, are owed between > six and twelve months' pay. Only one-quarter of Russian workers are paid > in full and on time. Forty percent of workers in a survey last year (and > 54 percent of unskilled workers) said they had not received salaries for > the previous month. As of October 1 nearly 55.3 trillion rubles ($9.4 > billion) in unpaid wages were owed by the state and private enterprises. > Almost half of the country’s 22,000 companies are in violation of > Russian Federation legislation on wage payment. > > This compilation of State Statistics Committee figures and independent > research data are furnished by the International Federation of Chemical, > Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which is leading the > campaign against non-payment of wages in conjunction with the FNPR, the > Russian Independent Federation of Trade Unions, and the International > Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The 20-million member ICEM, > which successfully pioneered the use of the Internet against > Bridgestone/Firestone in organized labor's first cyber-campaign in 1996 > (<Flier>, 7/25/96), launched an electronic campaign against wage arrears > in Russia in November. As with the Bridgestone strike, the ICEM web site > (http://www.icem.org/) provides links for sending protests to the World > Bank and other international institutions, the Russian government, > regional administrations and employers, and multinational banks and > corporations. > > > The article can be read in its entirety at > http://www.well.com/user/sfflier. > > > -- > Betsey Culp > San Francisco Flier > Box 346, 1550 California St. > San Francisco, CA 94109 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.well.com/user/sfflier >
