About Common Requirements of Labour Collectives during Strikes and Mass Actions

A meeting on a theme of development of uniform requirements of labour collectives during strikes and mass actions for the nearest period takes place today in Institute of Problems of Globalization. The essence of the problem is that today even in case of sharp, extreme forms of protest such as hunger-strike or continuing strike requirements which collectives put forward have situational character, are often inconsistent that facilitates struggle against them to the owners of enterprises and allows the state, acting on the part of the owner, not to accept joint steps, including of the legislative character, improving position of hired workers.

It is necessary to equip workers and labour collectives as a whole with the general verified approaches to solving of labour conflict that will help us and other labour collectives to solve not only private problems but also more general ones, will facilitate possibilities for display of working solidarity and will give chance to undertake something in the centre for their support. Common organizational-methodical approach to the problem of labour conflict is necessary for all left, remedial and trade-union organisations allowing isolated structures to put up united front.

Agenda:

1. Uniform requirements for labour collectives (lecturer Baranov Anatoly Yurevich, editor-in-chief of FORUM.msk)

2. Legal support of collective and separate active worker during labour conflict (lecturer Akimov Vladimir Vladimirovich, political scientist)

3. About political representation of workers in the period of aggravation of class struggle (lecturer Delyagin Michael Gennadevich, director of Institute of Problems of Globalization)

Items of uniform requirements offered to the discussion.

•1.                   The requirement of participation of labour (working) collective in management of enterprise, carrying out of the working control over all aspects of life of the enterprise, veto right for labour collective on any decision of administration.

 As to the requirement of nationalization which can be heard often as well as on enterprises being state ownership, it is necessary to notice that bourgeois state has many forms the government could control actives belonging to it but none of these forms is directed on protection of interests of labour collective and separate hired worker. Moreover, bourgeois state applies both privatization and nationalization mechanism equally but it does it exclusively with a view of own purposes, disregarding interests of workers. Owing to it demanding this or that form of nationalization is necessary to understand firmly - none of them will solve problems of labour collective completely, more over such, for example, form as FSUE does not provide participation of workers in management at all and such form as State enterprise deprives in addition the worker of the right to strike.

Basically, for conditions of bourgeois state nationalization requirement is extremely disputable and more likely it is necessary to demand that means of production belonged equally to those who works on them.

It is necessary to understand that in today's conditions when workfolk is as a whole under the influence of crisis, it's  hardly possible to expect that as a result of protests and labour conflicts, even mass ones we will come to a victory of socialist work. While it's real to gain experience, to learn to understand own interests and to protect them collectively, to create organizational forms for such protection.

In particular, there is a question on obligatory participation of labour (working) collective in management of Joint-stock company both where control stock belongs to the state and to the private owner.

Labour collective should have inaliennable, uniform (indivisible) blocking share holding in joint-stock company of any type with the right of promotion of own representatives into the Board of directors with veto right.

The right of the collective to set own representatives into the Board of directors or to employ independent directors with obligatory forms of reporting before labour collective.

2. The requirement of creation of authorized representative of labour collective (Council of labour collective, Council of workers, Council of representatives, etc.) which would set and recall independent directors, would make decisions how to vote to its representatives on the Board of directors and would act as plenipotentiary of labour collective in other questions.

It is necessary to understand that trade union under existing legislation and at its core cannot act in such quality fully. It can represent interests of labour collective or only its part (that is essential) in mutual relations with the proprietor but not to become in any way the proprietor of the enterprise itself. However, according to article 16.3 of the law of the Russian Federation "About trade unions, their rights and activity guarantees", trade unions under authorization of workers, i.e. under authorization of general meeting of workers (labour collective) have the right to have representatives in collegial control bodies of organisation and in such situation trade union can be this representative.

It's also necessary to understand that requirement of total control over manufacture from outside labour collective is often untimely, while the process of participation of workers in production management will sharply raise their ability of self-organizing and will promote acquisition of administrative skills by them, that is the extremely essential for the next stage of class struggle for total control of workers over means of production.

However for average and small enterprises requirement of total control can be real and timely, especially when the enterprise becomes bankrupt because of nonpayment of salaries.

•3.                   Situation of bankruptcy of average and small enterprise workers need to demand total control over it by labour collective, in particular, creation of such form, as National enterprise.

Nobody cancelled the law on the national enterprise, though in reality it's practically not being realised. However it is necessary to understand that for effective work of the National enterprise the workers will have to overcome resistance of all bourgeois system and to work in conditions, say, of firm state order provided with the budget - is one thing, while in conditions of wild market - absolutely different and the National enterprise can appear inefficient also by its intention for precedent suppression.

•4.                   The requirement of full representation of independent trade union, including firm list of coordination of all decisions of administration of the enterprise where the trade union visa should be obligatory and where decision of administration (especially in questions of sizes and forms of payment, job cuts of workplaces and change of the status of the enterprise) would be invalid. This requirement should be put in the enterprise charter, irrespective of its organizational form.

5. The requirement of uniform payment. The salary of the worker should not be below 10% from the maximum salary of the head.

Actually, 10% - figure which is considered as minimum rupture in payment, not causing social pressure in collective ("deficient index"). Workers of AvtoVaz demanded only 5-fold rupture. Basically, this question should pass to the discretion of collective and 10% is, as a matter of fact, minimum size.

6. The requirement of flat rate. The size of a bonus part of salary should not be more than 30%.

7. The requirement of payment of the debts under the salary. In case of debts growth the size of the debt of administration to labour collective can be repaid by increase of the share of labour collective in joint-stock of the enterprise.

8. The requirement of the right to set own representatives to local and municipal elections, bypassing political structures for the working collective of the city-forming enterprise. 

Send by mail

Print