Russian Leadership Has Met Majority Of Demands Advanced By Labor Unions

The Russian leadership has met the majority of demands advanced by labor unions, Mikhail Shmakov, the leader of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, said at a congress. According to Shmakov, the shocks that racked society in the early nineties has finally given way to stabilization in all the economic areas. "Actual wages are bigger, the minimal wages rate has improved," he said. There is yet another positive moment about authorities, which is their "openness for a dialogue with society" in general and labor unions in particular. "Now that labor unions have an opponent in the person of property-owners and employers," it is high time labor unions update their strategy, went on Shmakov, who suggested that government be helped, as quickly as possible, into a new quality of being a mediator between capital and labor. In his opinion, it is also necessary to carry out "a serious reform of the system of wages." However, a developed system of social protection is just as important for a higher life quality as constant rise in wages and pensions.