2016 ITUC Global Rights Index - Russia

Strike on the 2018 World Cup Stadium in Nizhniy Novgorod: Workers of the 2018 World Cup Stadium in Nizhiniy Novgorod went on strike denouncing unpaid work and absence of employment contracts. Their employer, a Turkish subcontracting company, shifted all responsibilities to the main contractor. The latter refused all the accusations saying that payments were always made on time. During World Cup preparatory works there were two cases of wage arrears on the 2018 World Cup stadiums, fatal accidents at the construction of the stadium in St. Petersburg and an occupational health and safety accident at the stadium in Volgograd. All these episodes led to a huge mistrust among workers against the organisation behind the World Cup. In this respect, Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of the Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), stated that trade unions have been excluded from the preparations for the World Cup with no opportunity to ensure protection of labour rights (on-time payment, decent conditions of work, employment contracts, etc.).

Kachkanar Mining and Ore-Processing Plant does not respect collective agreements excluding trade union from due consultation: The Miners' and Metallurgical Workers' Union of Russia (MMWU), through the voice of its local leader Anatoly Pyankov, stated that the Kachkanar Mining and Ore-Processing Plant (EVRAZ KGOK) failed to respect the collective agreement provisions. With no consideration of what is stated in the collective agreement, providing the duty of enterprise management to consult social partners during phases of corporate restructuring, EVRAZ KGOK overlooked completely the trade union presence and decided unilaterally for reduction of headcount and payrolls.

Despite the fact the plant's production output and profit are rising, management claimed a necessary cut in expenses that had to affect primarily the cost of staff. Some 150 workers quit their jobs after compensation was offered on an individual-negotiation base, while some others were forced to take unpaid leave. Workers, nullified as a collective group, had no possibility but to accept the draconian conditions imposed by the enterprise that, being the major employer in Kachkanar, left them with no other option of employment in the mining sector in the region.

Trade union leader dismissed from a bridge building company: N.M. Tarasenko, chair of the trade union organisation of the bridge construction crew No. 72 of the JSC Uralmostostroy of the Sverdlovsk Region, was dismissed on 7 December because of his trade union activism. The trade union went in front of a Court that ruled in favour of the trade unionist ordering his reinstatement.