Block Extra Coal Exports To Russia, Union International Says

Support to miners and other workers in Russia campaigning for payment of wage arrears was today reaffirmed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). In particular, the ICEM Executive Committee called upon all ICEM affiliates worldwide to block any attempts to export additional coal to Russia.

 Unpaid Russian miners blocking a railway line.
"We can no longer bear to look into our children's hungry eyes," their placard says. "We have nothing to lose."
(Photo: Vyacheslav Voyakin, Vladivostok News)

Full text of the resolution unanimously adopted by the ICEM Executive in Blankenberge, Belgium, today:

We, participants of the 3rd Executive Committee meeting of the ICEM, observe with great concern the developments in Russia.

Our colleagues, the Russian miners, were brought to the edge of despair by systematic delays in wage payments and severe erosion of social benefits, which pushed them to launch nationwide protest campaigns involving strikes, blocking of coal supplies and paralysing railroad traffic in several regions of Russia.

The coal industry in Russia is in a very difficult situation: it is planned to close 120 mines in 1998, leaving 300,000 miners unemployed. Miners appear to be hostages of the unwise economic policy of the Russian government and that is the background against which miners are not paid their salaries on time.

In the course of the campaign, there were several cases when union leaders were harassed and threatened with prosecution by local authorities and employers. The Russian government threatened to undermine the effectiveness of collective actions by importing additional coal into Russia. We raise our voice against any persecution of union activists in Russia, and also appeal to ICEM affiliates to block any attempts to export additional coal to Russia.

For the time being, coal miners have forced the government into extraordinary measures, which resulted in the paying out of wage debts in several regions, and we congratulate our colleagues on this victory.

However, our Brothers and Sisters in other industries continue to suffer from the immoral policy of wage arrears. The ICEM, at the request of Russian affiliates, has several times expressed solidarity in support of their struggle and sent letters of protest to the Russian authorities with reference to wage arrears. The ICEM has launched a worldwide cybercampaign on the Internet supporting Russian workers and their struggle.

Today, we, the representatives of workers of 115 countries united in the ICEM, declare that in future, the ICEM will use all its possibilities to support the just struggle of Russian workers for their rights.

We urge the Russian authorities and employers not to bring workers and their families to the edge of rage and despair, but to solve all problems in a civilised way, on the basis of respect for human rights, justice and law.