Members of the social democratic Fair Russia party that backs Dmitry Medvedev introduced a controversial bill in the State Duma. The bill was considered in first reading on 11 July. The initiators believe Russia’s trade unions have insufficient rights to protect workers interests and that their role in labor relations between employees and employers is merely formal. The bill’s main purpose is to make trade unions a real working tool, not a formal association. A law on this will most likely be adopted in the next months, but it will be a watered down versions, probably in line with the opinion of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia.
The main points of the proposed law are the following:
- To clearly enshrine the right of trade unions to appeal to the courts on their own initiative in order to protect workers’ labor rights. The law “On trade unions” states that trade unions may, at the request of union members, other workers submit applications in the protection of their labor rights.”
Do you have information to share with us?