17 November, 2011ITUA - the Russian Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers aims to organize autoworkers in the rapidly expanding auto cluster around Saint-Petersburg.
RUSSIA: The Saint-Petersburg area is a major auto production cluster and home to the first ITUA local at the Ford plant in Vsevolozhsk. Since February 2011, the IMF and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is supporting ITUA organizing at several auto plants in the area targeting the 4,300 to 4,700 workers at the Nissan, General Motors, Nokian Tires, Hyundai and Faurecia plants.
ITUA organizers held a workshop for union activists at the Faurecia plant in Luga, a city near Saint-Petersburg on September 18. The key demand was to raise wages, since the workers earn just 400-500 USD on average. On September 30 the workers held a conference and agreed officially on a list of demands, and on October 5 the list was handed to the company management.
At GM, the management introduced a new working schedule, substituting the normal 5-day working week with a 4-day week with extra-long hours. This was extremely unpopular among GM workers, and the ITUA organizers came up with an idea of a protest action. They offered some workers to wear red bands on their wrists as a sign of protest against the new schedule. The action was a breakthrough, and some 100 workers agreed to wear red bands during the whole working week.
On September 19-20, ITUA organizers distributed leaflets with red bands attached to them at the shuttle bus stops. The action was very successful in terms of visibility of the union - ITUA even held a press-conference and the situation was featured in the national news.
The IMF-CAW project has allowed ITUA to bring together a strong team of organizers. Their work with Faurecia and GM activists has already brought concrete results.
ITUA organizers held a workshop for union activists at the Faurecia plant in Luga, a city near Saint-Petersburg on September 18. The key demand was to raise wages, since the workers earn just 400-500 USD on average. On September 30 the workers held a conference and agreed officially on a list of demands, and on October 5 the list was handed to the company management.
At GM, the management introduced a new working schedule, substituting the normal 5-day working week with a 4-day week with extra-long hours. This was extremely unpopular among GM workers, and the ITUA organizers came up with an idea of a protest action. They offered some workers to wear red bands on their wrists as a sign of protest against the new schedule. The action was a breakthrough, and some 100 workers agreed to wear red bands during the whole working week.
On September 19-20, ITUA organizers distributed leaflets with red bands attached to them at the shuttle bus stops. The action was very successful in terms of visibility of the union - ITUA even held a press-conference and the situation was featured in the national news.
The IMF-CAW project has allowed ITUA to bring together a strong team of organizers. Their work with Faurecia and GM activists has already brought concrete results.