Russian Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Transition

Russian Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Transition

Russian Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Transition Sarah Ashwin and Simon Clarke

* Softcover Sarah Ashwin and Simon Clarke 2003 reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-0-333-73518-3 AU rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made witholjt written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, london W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMilLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave MacmiUan division of St. Martin's Press, LtC and of Palgrave Maanillan Ltd. Macmillan" is a registered trademan: in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-40826-9 ISBN 978-0-230-59835-5 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230598355 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging. pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number. 2002068332

Contents List of Figures and Tables Acronyms and Abbreviations ix xi Introduction 2 Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in the Soviet System 8 The formation of the soviet trade unions 8 After Lenin: the fate of the unions 14 The structure and functions of soviet trade unions 17 The regulation of the employment relationship 22 Trade unions and the labour collective under perestroika 26 The reform of the trade unions under perestroika 30 Post-soviet trade unions in search of a role 33 3 Trade Unions and Politics in Post-Soviet Russia 36 Trade unions and politics in the Yeltsin era 38 The challenge of Yeltsin's reforms 38 FNPR in the confrontation between Yeltsin and Parliament 41 FNPR's change of line 42 Trade unions during the first Duma ( 1994--6) 44 The unions in the 1995 election 47 Lobbying the second Duma (1996-9) 50 The 1999 Duma election 55 The 2000 Presidential election and FNPR under Putin 60 The campaign against the Unified Social Tax and the Labour Code 62 FNPRunderthreat 68 Conclusion 71

vi Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Russia 4 The Structure of Russian Trade Unions 73 International Relations of the Russia trade unions 75 FNPR 76 The branch unions 78 Regional trade union organisations 81 Trade union membership 86 Membership dues 88 Trade union property 90 The trade union apparatus 93 Who are the trade union officers? 95 Trade union expenditure 98 5 The Legal Framework of Industrial Relations 101 Post-soviet changes to the legal framework: an overview 103 The Russian Constitution 105 The Russian Labour Code 106 The 2001 Labour Code III The Law on Trade Unions 114 Trade union rights and status 117 The unions as a privileged interlocutor with government 119 Rights in relation to management 121 The Law on Collective Bargaining and Agreements 124 The Law on Collective Labour Disputes 127 Conclusion 131

Contents vii 6 Social Partnership 132 The origins and meaning of 'sotsial'noe partnerstvo' 132 Social partnership at the Federal level: the history of the Russian Tripartite Commission and the General Agreement 138 The social partners at national level 145 The enforcement of agreements 147 Social partnership at the branch level: branch tariff agreements 148 Social partnership at the regional level 152 The formal aims of regional social partnership 154 Who are the social partners? 154 The content of the reg ional ag reements 159 Coverage and enforcement of regional agreements 168 The regional tripartite commission 170 Relations with the regional legislature 172 Social partnership at the sub-regional level 173 What is the point of social partnership? 174 7 The Functions of Russian Trade Unions 179 Wage determination 179 Employment protection 182 Social protection and the enforcement of labour rights 184 Support for the negotiation of collective agreements 185 Training for trade union activists 186 Provision of legal advice 188 Action through the courts 190 Conflict resolution 192 Monitoring the observance of health and safety and labour legislation 193 Informational-analytical work 196 Social welfare and mass-cultural work 197 Organisation and recruitment 200

viii Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Russia 8 Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in the Enterprise 203 Privatisation, the enterprise director and the labour collective 203 Globalisation and the collapse of the Russian economy 204 Primary organisations after the collapse of communism 207 Trade union organisation 212 Trade union facilities 216 Trade union activities 217 Collective agreements 220 Failure to conclude a collective agreement 222 Negotiation of the collective agreement 225 Content of the collective agreement 228 Fulfilment and enforcement of the collective agreement 234 Relations with the administration 237 Relations with members 241 Relations with regional trade union bodies 246 Conflict 248 Individual labour disputes 249 Collective labour conflicts 252 Militant trade union organisations 257 Do Russian workers need trade unions? 259 9 The Future of Russian Trade Unionism 262 The limitations of social partnership 262 The vicious circle of conciliation 265 Hierarchy and trade union democracy 267 The demobilisation of the membership 268 Russian trade unionism in comparative perspective 270 The future of Russian trade unionism 273 Bibliography 277 Index 285

List of Figures and Tables Figure 4.1: The Structure of Russian Trade Union Organisation 74 Table 4.1: Membership of FNPR Trade Unions 86 Table 6.1: Agreements of various types signed each year, 1993-2000 137 Table 8.1: Frequency of meetings of the trade union committee 213 Table 8.2: Percentage of branches with a full-time president, by size of branch 213 Table 8.3: Occupational status of part-time trade union presidents, and previous occupational status of full-time presidents 214 Table 8.4: Sources of payment of the trade union president 215 Table 8.5: Percentage offemale trade union presidents 215 Table 8.6: Age distribution of trade union presidents 216 Table 8.7: Percentage of trade union committees with various kinds of equipment 216 Table 8.8: Percentage of trade union committees provided with premises 217 Table 8.9: Distribution of trade union budget spending by enterprise size 218 Table 8.10: Rating of importance of various trade union activities Table 8.11: What do you see as the main difficulties for the work of your trade union organisation? 219 220 Table 8.12: Percentage of enterprises with a collective agreement and percentage of agreements which are registered by enterprise size 222 Table 8.13: Why is there no collective agreement in your enterprise? 223 Table 8.14: Who prepared the draft of the current collective agreement? 227 Table 8.15: How would you characterise relations with the administration in the process of preparation and adoption of the collective agreement? 228 Table 8.16: Points of the collective agreement giving rise to the most discussion in negotiations 228

x Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Russia Table 8.17: Points included in collective agreements in industrial enterprises, 1994-2000 230 Table 8.18: Percentage of collective agreements including various provisions 234 Table 8.19: Points of the collective agreement most frequently violated 235 Table 8.20: Percentage reporting that the collective agreement had been fulfilled 236 Table 8.21: What did the trade union do as a consequence of management's failure to observe the collective agreement? 237 Table 8.22: How would you assess your relations as trade union leader with the management of the enterprise? 239 Table 8.23: Can your trade union organisation exert real influence on the resolution of the following problems? 240 Table 8.24: How often do you meet with members in their workplaces 241 Table 8.25: How often do members tum to the union on various issues? 242 Table 8.26: Who defends the interests of employees? 243 Table 8.27: Where do employees tum for help in enterprises with and without trade unions? 243 Table 8.28: Assessment of various activities of the regional branch committee of the union 247 Table 8.29: Assessment of activities of the regional trade union federation 247 Table 8.30: Trade union leaders' assessment of the main reasons for collective and individual labour conflicts 249 Table 8.31: What action do you consider most effective if a worker turns to you concerning an individual labour conflict? Table 8.32: Means of resolving labour conflicts reported by employers and employees 251 251 Table 8.33: Which actions do you consider most effective in the event of a collective labour conflict in your enterprise? 252 Table 8.34: Involvement of courts and trade unions in strikes and collective labour disputes 1995-9 254 Table 8.35: Official statistics of strikes in Russia 255

Acronyms and Abbreviations AFL-CIO AMROS ASTI CIS CLMS CPSU ERP ESN ETS EU FNPR FPAD FTUI FZK GMPR ICEM ICFTU ILO IMF ISITO ITS IUF KGB KSORR KPRF KTR KTS MFP MRP MVD NEP NPG OFT American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations Association of Industrialists of the Mining-Metallurgical Complex of Russia Social-Labour Information Agency Commonwealth of Independent States Centre for Labour Market Studies Communist Party of the Soviet Union Unity for Progress Unified Social Tax Unified Tariff Scale European Union Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Trade Unions Free Trade Union Institute Factory Committee Mining-Metallurgical Trade Union of Russia International Federation of Chemical, Energy and Mining Workers' Unions International Confederation of Free Trade Unions International Labour Organisation International Monetary Fund Institute for Comparative Labour Relations Research International Trade Secretariat International Union of Food and Allied Workers State Security Committee Co-ordinating Council of Employers' Associations of Russia Communist Party of the Russian Federation Confederation of Labour of Russia Labour Disputes Commission Moscow Federation of Trade Unions Marxist Workers' Party Interior Ministry New Economic Policy Independent Miners' Union United Workers Front

xii Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Russia OVR PARRRSR PLS PRIASGA RKRP RLFS ROPP RSPP RTK STK VKP VKT VTsIOM VTsSPS WFTU Gorkom Goskomtrud Ispolkom Narkomtrud Obkom OblsovproJ Raikom Rostrudinspektsiya Fatherland - All Russia Trade Union of Aviation Employees in Radar, Radio Navigation and Communications Trade Union of Flying Staff Trade Union of Civil Aviation Engineering Employees Russian Communist Workers' Party Russian Labour Flexibility Survey Russian United Industrial Party Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Russian Tripartite Commission Labour Collective Council General Confederation of Trade Unions All-Russian Confederation of Labour All-Russian Centre for Public Opinion Research All-Union (All-Russian) Central Council of Trade Unions World Federation of Trade Unions City Committee State Committee for Labour Executive Committee People's Commissariat for Labour Regional Branch Trade Union Committee Regional Trade Union Council District Committee Russian Labour Inspectorate