Russia's Trade Unions Want to Alleviate Negative Results of Globalisation

As Natalia Podshibyakina, the First Deputy Chairman of the All-Russian Confederation of Trade Unions, said today while speaking at the roundtable at the media centre of the Izvestia newspaper, 'Russia's trade unions are interested in alleviating the negative consequences of globalisation'. Mrs. Podshibyakina noted that the gap between the living standards of the richest and the poorest was widening. The ratio between them from 1:30 in 1961 had gone to 1:86 in 1991. So, she continued, Russia's trade unions would further strive for increased wages. 'Today that the level of prices on Russia's internal markets has practically reached that across the world, 12% of Russia's population continues to earn less than $32 per month,' she said. Mr. Podshibyakina also said, 'Trans-national companies try to drive trade unions out.' She gave the examples of McDonalds and Coca-Cola and stated the intention of trade unions to create their strong organisations at trans-national companies, spreading the struggle beyond the countries borders into the CIS.

Trade unions, she said, would also busy themselves creating a common for Russia and the CIS market of labour. In the contemporary conditions when new technologies allow heightened productivity, unemployment and increased migration should be expected, so the only way to protect domestic labour market was through creating a common one for all the members of the commonwealth.