31 January, 2013The prosecutor’s office in Kaluga, Russia stated that the management’s ‘ban’ on public activities including union organizing on the territory of Peugeot-Citroen plant is illegal.
Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers (ITUA), an IndustriALL affiliate, also affiliated to the Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR), asked KTR to inquire with the Prosecutor’s office whether Peugeot-Citroen’s actions in Kaluga, Russia, were legal.
Earlier the company posted a banner at the plant’s parking lot, announcing that ‘distributing leaflets as well as any other public activities are banned on the territory of the parking lot’. Accordingly, when the ITUA organizers began distributing union leaflets among workers leaving the plant after their shift, security guards physically attacked them and detained them at the parking lot for some time.
ITUA filed a complaint with the local police, but also through its parent union, KTR, inquired with the Prosecutor’s office whether posting such a banner was legal at all.
The prosecutor’s office replied that the management’s actions were illegal and the management had no right to ban public activities on the territory of the plant, since they are guaranteed by Russian laws.
The complaint regarding physical violence against ITUA organizers was transferred to the Kaluga city police division.
The ITUA has a strong presence in Kaluga industrial cluster, with collective agreements signed at Volkswagen and Benteler, an auto parts supplier to VW.