>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Nov 16 06:41:04 1997 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: CYBERCAMPAIGN: RUSSIAN WAGE DEBT >ICEM UPDATE > >No. 68/1997 > >13 November 1997 > >The following is from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM): > >RUSSIAN WAGE DEBT CRISIS: >WORLD CYBERCAMPAIGN BACKS RUSSIA'S WORKERS > >As the harsh Russian winter nears, a massive backlog of unpaid wages means deepest poverty for Russian workers and their families. In many cases, starvation now looms. > >One Russian worker in four is no longer paid regularly. More than 20 million people in Russia do not receive their wages on time. Many are owed between six and twelve months' pay. The state and the employers owe some 10 billion US dollars in unpaid wages. > >And one Russian worker in eight is now paid in kind rather than in cash. Russia is increasingly becoming a hawker economy as workers try to raise money by selling their employers' products on the streets after hours. This October, workers at a state farm in Vologda were suddenly "paid" in manure - delivered to their doorsteps! > >Workers have responded to non-payment in many ways. The trade unions have organised a series of strikes and demonstrations. Local strikes are erupting all the time. Workers frequently organise hunger strikes and workplace occupations. Acts of civil disobedience have involved the blocking of rail lines and roads. The new wave of protests throughout the Russian Federation marks the decision by Russian trade unions, of all tendencies, to make the payment of wage arrears a priority. > >Now, a cybercampaign on the Web is bringing new global support to Russia's unpaid workers. Launched by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), this campaign builds on the ICEM's experience of "cyberpicketing". The ICEM pioneered the technique during the US dispute with global tyre giant Bridgestone in 1996. > >The international labour movement strongly supports the demands of the Russian trade unions that the Russian government should: >- meet its obligations to pay its own employees >- legislate a realistic minimum wage >- introduce criminal sanctions for the non-payment of wages >- enforce existing legislation in this sphere >- reinforce tripartite (union/emplpoyer/government) mechanisms >- bring Russian labour legislation into line with internationally recognised standards concerning strikes. > >The ICEM and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) are now progressing a complaint on Russia's wage debt crisis through the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). As part of the cybercampaign, Web users can add their voices to the complaint by sending electronic messages to the ILO. > >Cybercampaigners worldwide can now also - via the ICEM campaign site - send protests to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international institutions, to the Russian government, to employers and regional administrations and to multinational companies and banks. All of these bear some responsibility for the hardship and suffering that Russian workers are now experiencing. > >And talking of banks, Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais, who has special responsibility for the economic mess, has just been proclaimed "Central Banker Of The Year" by Euromoney magazine. > >If Chubais is the world's best central banker, the ICEM wonders who came in second. Nominations, please, to: > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >If there is a good response, a league table of nominees will be published on the cybercampaign site, and the authors of the best three nomination letters will win the cassette "Roses of Memory" and the ICEM CD "Power". > >In Moscow, meanwhile, the Russian trade unions will tackle the wage arrears issue at an international conference being held this month by the ICFTU with ILO support. > >Preparations for the conference include a number of seminars, one of which examined the situation in the energy industry. ICEM affiliates were among the participants at the seminar held in the ancient city of Novgorod on October 27-30. The seminar brought together Russian unions involved in the production of energy and also unions representing workers in industries that are major energy consumers. All ICEM-affiliated trade unions in Russia were present and they were joined in their deliberations by delegations from the Russian Trade Union of Nuclear Power and Industry Workers (RTUNPIW) and the Russian Metal and Metal Mining Workers Union. Also in attendance was the ICEM-affiliated Ukrainian nuclear workers' union ATU. > >The seminar viewed and finalised the new cybercampaign, which is now online in English. The ICEM is hoping to reproduce as much of the site as possible in Russian too. It also intends to create an e-mail-only version of the cyberprotest section of the campaign to allow participation by those who have access to e-mail but not to the Web. > >THE WEB CAMPAIGN CAN BE ACCESSED NOW AT: > >http://www.icem.org/campaigns/no_pay_cc/index.html > >Other websites are encouraged to create direct links to the campaign. > >And Web users everywhere are urged to show their support for Russia's unpaid workers: > >TO PICKET, JUST CLICK IT. > >________________ > > >Individual ICEM UPDATE items can be supplied in other languages on request. > >Our print magazines ICEM INFO and ICEM GLOBAL are available in Arabic, English, >French, German, Russian, Scandinavian and Spanish. > >Visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.icem.org/ > >ICEM >avenue Emile de Beco 109, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. >tel.+32.2.6262020 fax +32.2.6484316 >Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Editor: Ian Graham, Information Officer > >Publisher: Vic Thorpe, General Secretary. > >[end] >
