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14 February, 2011
Over 400 delegates and guests attended the 5th Congress of the ICEM-affiliated Russian Oil, Gas, and Construction Workers’ Union (ROGWU) 22-23 December 2010, at the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow.
The Congress re-elected Lev Mironov as President in a closely fought three-way election. ROGWU also elected two Vice Presidents, Vladimir Kosovich and Nadezhda Zvyagintseva.
The Congress also marked 20 years of the union in its present form, having been established in December 1990 with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation as an independent state, making it necessary to restructure trade union work. However, the origins of the Oil, Gas, and Construction Workers’ Union dates back to 1906 and the first organisation of workers at the oil plants in the Caspian Sea city of Baku, now Azerbaijan.
Today the union represents around 1.4 million members. Functioning in 63 subjects of the Russian Federation are some 2,700 primary union organizations, 28 territorial elective bodies, and six inter-regional trade union organizations of the companies Lukoil, Gazprom, Sibur-Holding, Tatneft, Novatech, and Sodrujestvo.
The Congress approved the basic directions of activity for ROGWU for 2011-2015 and adopted amendments to the Charter of Oil, Gas, and Russia, as well as a resolution on the institutional strengthening of trade unions, a resolution dealing with the urgent issues of social protection, labour rights, and economic interests of workers, union policies on youth, on information and analytical work regarding gender equality, as well as an appeal to employers organizations of the oil and gas industry.
Jim Catterson and Anatoly Surin represented the ICEM Secretariat at the Congress, with a number of important oil industry affiliated unions, including Norway’s IndustriEnergi (IE) also present.
ROGWU has posted material about the Congress here.