Dear pen-l'rs, Here are the voices of the Russian workers and their position on the CPRF. Greg. ***** Russian Unions, Communists Disagree Over Strike Demands Moscow, Aug 13 (Interfax) -- Trade Unions will put forward their own slogans, differing from the demands of the Communist Party of Russia (CPRF), during the protest action in the fall, said the secretary of the Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions Andrey Isayev. Isayev criticized leader of the Communist Party Gennadiy Zyuganov's remarks that "formation of a popular trust government" should become the chief demand of the protest. "Communists think that such a government would be formed under the leadership of the [Communist dominated] State Duma. However, the trade unions have their own attitude to the lower parliamentary house," he said. "Deputies failed to adopt a single socially significant law in the interests of workers. They set up a shamefully low minimum wage level, ignore the demands for enforcing legal responsibility of the employer for overdue wages. At the same time, they push through the anti-trade union law on labor and dutifully vote on all the budgets proposed by the government," he said. "The legislative branch is no less to blame than the executive one for the current situation in the country. It is shameless to expect hungry people to play as extras in the officials' game under the cover of creating a popular trust government," he said. "A complete and unequivocal settlement of wage arrears, changes in the social and economic policy and simultaneous early presidential and Duma elections will become the chief demands of the All-Russian strike which trade unions alone have the right to declare, not political parties," he said. The federation's general council will make a final decision on the issue on August 27.
