Workers in Russia are owed more than 50 trillion roubles ($8.8
billion U.S.) in backpay, of which the state owes 10 trillion.
Trade unions are organizing protest demonstrations, rallies and
other actions on March 27 to demand their backpay and pensions.
Organizers said they expect more than 20 million people to
participate in the protest actions, including seven million
workers presently on strike.
Government spokespersons said the new government has been
working around-the-clock for two weeks to bring about the
necessary changes to address their demands. Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomydrin and Deputy Prime Ministers Anatoloy Chubais and
Boris Nemtsov are to hold a news conference this afternoon to
detail the government's "approach to the problem of unpaid wages
and pensions." The new government has "pledged to speed up
economic reform and Nemtsov has promised to restructure powerful
Russian monopolies," news agencies report. "I wouldn't expect any
revolutionary decisions in the next 3-5 days, two weeks, or even
month on issues such as natural monopolies, social issues or
other problems," government spokesman Igor Shabdurasulov said.
"It's not real to imagine solving such a series of problems
tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." He said "it was absurd to
hope that all back wages could be paid before Thursday, but said
a timetable was being organized to set out realistic goals. Back
pensions would be paid by the end of June, debts to teachers by
May, and government debts by autumn."
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Russia to Sign New Cooperation Agreement with NATO
The Summit meeting held between U.S. President Bill Clinton and
Russian President Boris Yeltsin failed to reach agreement as
concerns NATO's eastward expansion. Russia has repeatedly stated
its opposition to the inclusion of members of the former Warsaw
Pact in NATO and after the March 21 Summit, news agencies say
that the Russians and Americans "agreed to disagree" on NATO "but
pledged to forge a new Russia-NATO cooperation agreement." The
news agencies interpret this as a "signal" that "Russia will
grudgingly acquiesce in the admission of some east European
countries into NATO."
Yeltsin said that he continued to view NATO expansion as "a
mistake, and a serious one at that," while Clinton said it would
move ahead as planned. Yeltsin said that the new cooperation
agreement would be to "minimize" the impact of NATO expansion.
Yeltsin also dropped a prior demand that the agreement be a
legally binding international treaty. The joint statement
released at the end of the Summit said the agreement, to be
signed by Yeltsin and the heads of state of the 16 NATO members,
would be "a firm commitment adopted at the highest political
level."
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
