5 July, 2012The Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers (ITUA), an IndustriALL affiliate, signed a collective bargaining agreement at Benteler in Kaluga, Russia, thus securing the success of the March strike at the plant.
On 3 July the Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers (ITUA) signed a collective bargaining agreement with management at Benteler in Kaluga, Russia.
Benteler is a Volkswagen supplier in the dense industrial area in Kaluga. The workers there joined the ITUA and offered to sign a CBA in March 2012. The management refused to negotiate. In response the union staged a strike, which threatened production at the nearby Volkswagen plant. After two days of the strike the management agreed to begin negotiations.
The CBA was finally signed after three months of difficult negotiations. Key points of the new document include:
- 20 per cent bonus is included in the base wage
- This extended wage will raised by 5 per cent in July and by another 5 per cent in October 2012
- In May 2013 wages will be adjusted according to the official inflation figures and raised by another 3 per cent
The CBA also secures the worker’s right to refuse work not specified by his job description and provides guarantees for union activity.
Another key success is the agreement language on agency workers. Precarious work is limited to 15 per cent of the total workforce in normal conditions and 25 per cent of the workforce in the periods of extending production. Agency workers have to be transferred to permanent positions in three months. The ITUA states that it’s the first step to complete liquidation of agency work in the Kaluga auto cluster.
“The success at Benteler was made possible by workers’ resilience and unity, union activists’ competent and resolute actions. The success of the negotiations was based on the success of the industrial action,” states the ITUA.