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29 January, 2007
A 24 January trade union protest in Moscow demanded that the Russian government correct the inefficient and inadequate social pension system of the country. Some 500 workers turned out for the demonstration at Russia’s Government Building. The manifestation was sponsored by the Russian Association of Main Industries’ Trade Unions, a formalised coordinating body of ten trade unions representing workers in essential industries.
Five of the ten trade unions are ICEM affiliates, and the Association is headed by ICEM Vice President Lev Mironov, president of the Russian Oil, Gas and Construction Workers Union (ROGWU).
Left to right: Ivan Mokhnachuk, Rosugleprof; Lev Mironov, ROGWU; Alexander Sitnov, RCWU.
The demonstration calls on the government to radically reform a broken pension system in which skilled workers receive only 10-15% of their wages once they retire.
Mironov, in a television interview on the day of the rally, spoke of the frustration that people in the regions experience because of low pensions. He said the government must urgently respond to this dire situation.
The rallying workers agreed to a list of demands that was presented to the government, and named a group of trade union leaders to negotiate with the government. One demand is to bring pension income to at least 40% of wage levels by 1 January 2008. The demands also call for the minimum pension to be set at a higher level, for tighter control over employers’ contributions to the pension fund, worker participation in fund management, and a return to the insurance-based mechanisms of social security.
The association’s demands also include Russian ratification of the European Social Charter, as well as Russia ratifying ILO Conventions 102 and 128. Convention 102 establishes minimum standards on social security, while Convention 128 covers standards for invalidity, old age, and survivors’ benefits.
The union leaders are expected to meet with Russian government officials this week.
The union coalition is expected to bring further public actions and pressure to bear on the pension crisis this year. Other ICEM affiliated unions that are part of the Association include the Russian Chemical and Allied Workers Union (RCWU), the All-Russia Electric Union (Electroprovsoyuz), the Timber and Related Industries Workers Union of Russia, and the Russian Independent Coal Employees’ Union (Rosugleprof). They are joined in the coalition by trade unions representing automobile workers, metal workers, construction workers, as well as another power workers’ union.