RUSSIA: Down with the new code of slavery!
MOSCOW — The following call for solidarity, issued last month by the coordinating committee of the All-Russian Campaign in Defence of the Labour Code, is addressed to "all progressive organisations of the world". It is slightly abridged.
The Russian government and President Putin plan to hurry through the State Duma a new barbarous anti-worker Labour Code which will leave our working class without legal methods of struggle against the arbitrariness of new proprietors and state authorities.
The draft new Labor Code emancipates the employer from the need to seek a trade union's consent for terminating a worker's employment, and [from seeking the union's] approval of work schedule and labour norms. It effectively abolishes the eight-hour work day and legal protection for trade union activists from bosses' vengeance, legalises unlimited overtime work without overtime pay, and weakens the protection of working mothers with small children.
The code that the executive committee of the ruling class is preparing to impose on Russian workers throws them legally back to the time of the Tsarist empire.
If adopted, this Labour Code will destroy the legal foundations of trade union activities at the enterprise and all legal venues for defending the rights of workers. Independent workers' organisations capable of combating the bourgeoisie will be liquidated. This defeat of Russian workers may have grave consequences for the outcome of working-class struggles all over the world.
The alliance of trade unions Defence [Zaschita] has been fighting against the labour code bill for the last four years and so far has managed to prevent it from passing. This fight is now going to be much harder because the new State Duma is more reactionary than the previous one.
On April 4, the coordinating committee of the All-Russian Campaign in Defence of the [existing] Labour Code was established in Moscow. On May 17, the committee plans to organise a day of united action with the following demands: "No to the government's Labour Code, short-time contracts and the arbitrariness of 'owners' and authority!", and "Yes to the control of workers' collectives in the enterprise!".
In this struggle, we count very much on international support from the left and progressive forces in general. If the government meets with serious internal and international resistance to its anti-labour legislation, there is a good chance of fending off this vicious attack.
We ask foreign comrades, labour unions, left and progressive organisations for solidarity. Please send protest emails to President Putin at <priem@duma.gov.ru>. Please also send copies to: <shein72@mail.ru> and <ISWoR@aol.com>.
Contact the All-Russian Campaign in Defence of the Labour Code at <shein72@mail.ru>, <zashmrp@mail.samtel.ru>, <kmg@komsa.kirov.ru> or <zrd@fra.emissia.spb.su>
For more information about the campaign, visit its web site at <http://www.geocities.com/rosskommuna/kzot/eng.html>.