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10 August, 2005ICEM news release No. 70/2001
Individuals inside Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration are reportedly behind a new "association of trade unions", controlled by employers and the State.
Any such structure would breach the International Labour Organisation's core standards on union freedom, Fred Higgs points out in a letter to President Putin.
Higgs is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). He asks Putin to "personally intervene" and to "verify the present situation and inform us of your conclusions." The matter is urgent, Higgs says, as the new "association' apparently plans to hold a congress on 26 October.
The ICEM is particularly concerned because the self-styled "Association of Trade Union Organisations of Workers In Pan-National and Transnational Enterprises" seems to be targeting company-level or local-level branches of ICEM-affiliated Russian unions, in an effort to split the branches off from the national unions. Information reaching the ICEM also suggests that at least one of the Vice-Presidents of the new "union association" is, in fact, an employer.
The new "association's" methods have been sharply criticised by ICEM unions in Russia. They are disturbed by the "association's" attempts to draw in members of the all-Russian trade unions and large trade union organisations. This drive has, they say, been accompanied by pressure from a number of government officials upon the leaderships of the unions and labour federations concerned.
In a joint declaration, the Russian trade union confederations FNPR, VKT and KTR condemned the new "association" as a bid to "create a trade union structure under the control of the employers and state bodies to destroy the existing all-Russian trade unions ... undermining the developing system of social partnership."
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has also asked President Putin to investigate the "association".
Any such structure would breach the International Labour Organisation's core standards on union freedom, Fred Higgs points out in a letter to President Putin.
Higgs is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). He asks Putin to "personally intervene" and to "verify the present situation and inform us of your conclusions." The matter is urgent, Higgs says, as the new "association' apparently plans to hold a congress on 26 October.
The ICEM is particularly concerned because the self-styled "Association of Trade Union Organisations of Workers In Pan-National and Transnational Enterprises" seems to be targeting company-level or local-level branches of ICEM-affiliated Russian unions, in an effort to split the branches off from the national unions. Information reaching the ICEM also suggests that at least one of the Vice-Presidents of the new "union association" is, in fact, an employer.
The new "association's" methods have been sharply criticised by ICEM unions in Russia. They are disturbed by the "association's" attempts to draw in members of the all-Russian trade unions and large trade union organisations. This drive has, they say, been accompanied by pressure from a number of government officials upon the leaderships of the unions and labour federations concerned.
In a joint declaration, the Russian trade union confederations FNPR, VKT and KTR condemned the new "association" as a bid to "create a trade union structure under the control of the employers and state bodies to destroy the existing all-Russian trade unions ... undermining the developing system of social partnership."
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has also asked President Putin to investigate the "association".