Joint Statement

of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR)

and the Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR)

on the right to strike

18 February 2015 has been designated by the ITUC General Council as a global day of action in defence of the right to strike .

The FNPR and the KTR as the ITUC affiliates fully support this initiative. On behalf of the organised  workers of our country we state the following:

The right to strike is a fundamental right of workers along with the right to organise and to bargain collectively. Despite employers’ attack on this right, orchestrated both globally and on the national level, the right to strike continues to be a cornerstone of modern system of labour relations. For many decades the right to strike has been recognised by the International Labour Organisation, it is enshrined in international legal framework as well as in legislation of advanced countries with a stable economic development and sustainable political system.

Attempts to challenge the underlying right to strike on the international level are coming from those whose neoliberal recipes and experiments have plunged the global economy into a deep financial and economic recession. The current crisis is threatening millions of workers with growing unemployment and loss of social stability. We are convinced that it is only through coordinated action of organised workers backed up by fundamental labour rights, that multinational corporations’ greed and attempts to make workers pay for the crisis can be tamed.  

Legislation of the Russian Federation generally stipulates the constitutional right of workers to strike. It can be used as a weighty argument to resolve collective labour disputes as well as in cases when the employer tends to avoid conciliation procedures.   

Trade unions of the Russian Federation have consistently spoken in favour of facilitating a broader application of this right in the labour sphere, simplifying the procedure of calling a strike, implementing in national legislations the ILO provisions on the union right to hold solidarity strikes, as well as strikes to oppose the government’s social and economic policy.  

The FNPR and the KTR view as unacceptable the recent calls to revise fundamental workers’ rights and are determined to counter such attacks by all legal means available.

Hands off the right to strike! 

On behalf of FNPR                                                        On behalf of KTR

Mikhail Shmakov                                                          Boris Kravchenko

President, FNPR                                                           President,  KTR

18 February, 2015