The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favour of members of the independent trade union of dockers at Russia’s Kaliningrad Sea Commercial Port. The court in Strasbourg ordered the Russian state to pay EUR 75,000 (RUR 3.3m) in compensation to the union members for loss of employment and violation of their rights. Under the ruling 30 dockers at the port will receive EUR 2,500 (RUR 110,800) each.

In October 1997, the members of the trade union called a two-day strike to press their demand for higher wages and better working conditions. The port refused to give in to the union demands, but instead dismissed the union activists. Without recourse in Russian courts, the dockers turned in 2001 to the ECHR, which accepted the case in 2004, Kaliningrad.ru recalls.

Mr Mikhail Chesalin, member of the Kaliningrad regional council from the Patriots of Russia party, said this was the first time that the ECHR has recognised a case of discrimination against trade unionists in Russia. “Now Mr Putin and the port company have to pay us EUR 75,000, and authorities have to investigate the activities of those port officials who let the union activists be discriminated,” Mr Chesalin said.

http://www.finrosforum.fi/?p=4569

Lithuania: Court dismisses charges against union leaders
DELFI.lt, 14.04.2009
A district court in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, has dismissed charges against three trade union leaders for disturbances during a demonstration outside the Lithuanian parliament in January 2009.
The court found that the union leaders could not be held responsible for inaction in stopping the riot. The court pointed out that the trade union demonstration was sanctioned, while the disturbances occurred during a parallel, unsanctioned demonstration.
One of those charged, Mr Arturas Cerniauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK), said the court ruling showed that there still was democracy in Lithuania. The police may, however, appeal the ruling.

Lithuania: Trade union leaders on trial
Kerkko Paananen, 05 Mar 2009
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/blog/kerkko/read/8091/lithuania-trade-union-leaders-on-trial

Lithuania: Demonstration in support of union leaders
Kerkko Paananen, 31 Mar 2009
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/blog/kerkko/read/10732/lithuania-demonstration-in-support-of-union-leaders

Lithuania: Sanctions instead of negotiations
Kerkko Paananen, 02 Apr 2009
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/blog/kerkko/read/10788/lithuania-sanctions-instead-of-negotiations

Lithuanian trade unions organised a public protest outside the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, against government policies on 16 January 2009. The demonstrators called for dialogue and negotiations between trade unions and the government.

In response, Mr Skirma Kondratas, spokesman for Lithuania's Prime Minister, told a meeting of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK) on 19 February 2009 that the government will not negotiate with the unions.

Moreover, charges were brought against Mr Arturas Cerniauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK), Mr Vydas Puskepalis, chairman of the Lithuanian Labour Federation (LDF), and Ms Aldona Svediene, chairperson of the Solidarumas (Solidarity) trade union.

The trade union leaders were charged with responsibility for the violent riots outside the Seimas on 16 January 2009. LPSK insists that the trade unions had nothing to do with the riots, and that the rioters simply took advantage of the peaceful demonstration.

Ms Goda Neverauskaite, project coordinator at LPSK, assured that the court case had not scared Lithuanian unions. She said the unions are prepared to organise a new demonstration if needed.

The unions are now waiting for the court's final decision, which should be made on 14 April 2009. Until then, the unions will refrain from further action, Ms Neverauskaite said. The union leaders face fines or administrative arrest.

Lithuania: Trade union leaders on trial
Kerkko Paananen, 05 Mar 2009
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/blog/kerkko/read/8091/lithuania-trade-union-leaders-on-trial

Lithuania: Demonstration in support of union leaders
Kerkko Paananen, 31 Mar 2009
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/blog/kerkko/read/10732/lithuania-demonstration-in-support-of-union-leaders

Lithuania: Oppositon demonstrates in support of union leaders
Penki News, 31 Mar 2009
Members of Lithuania's liberal opposition party, New Union (Naujoji Sajunga), held a demonstration on 31 March 2009 outside the second district court in Vilnius in support of three trade union leaders being tried for disturbances outside the Lithuanian parliament on 16 January 2009.
Around 40 New Union activists shouted slogans and held posters denouncing the charges brought against the union leaders as an attempt to restrict freedom of speech. "The movement of working people cannot be quelled in a free country," the protesters shouted. Mr Arturas Paulauskas, chairman of the New Union, expressed his solidarity with the demonstrators.
The three trade union leaders on trial are Mr Vydas Puskepalis, chairman of the Lithuanian Labour Federation (LDF), Mr Arturas Cerniauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK), and Ms Aldona Jasinskiene, chairperson of the Solidarumas (Solidarity) trade union. They face fines or up to 30 days in jail.
The court will issue its ruling in the case against the union leaders on 14 April 2009, Litovskij Kurjer reported. The three stand accused for calling the rally on 16 January 2009 and failing to ensure public order. The defendants insisted that responsibility for failing to ensure public order rested with the police.

Lithuania: Trade union leaders on trial
Kerkko Paananen, 05 Mar 2009
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/blog/kerkko/read/8091/lithuania-trade-union-leaders-on-trial

Lithuania: Govt plans to liberalise labour market
DELFI.lt, 04 Feb 2009
Lithuania's centre-right government plans to take measures to liberalise the country's labour market, following calls by local businesses. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the country's labour market regulations are not flexible enough. Lithuania's Ministry of Social Security and Labour has proposed that rules on overtime, working hours, delay allowances, extended unpaid leave, length of vacation, holiday entitlements, and length of contracts be set in collective agreements between employers and employees. Mr Rimantas Dagys, Minister of Social Security and Labour, said the government will discuss the proposed amendments to the country's labour law with trade unions.

Lithuania: Unions oppose plan to liberalise labour market
Penki News, 04 Feb 2009
Lithuanian trade unions may call a general strike to oppose the government's plan to liberalise the country's labour market. Mr Arturas Cerniauskas, chairman of the Confederation of Lithuanian Trade Unions (LPSK), said the government's plan will further worsen the situation of Lithuanian workers. The government's plan would eliminate delay allowances and make it easier to lay off workers. Mr Cerniauskas said the plan would leave many workers in an impossible situation, given that they would not be able to support themselves nor be entitled to social security.

Lithuania: Govt approves amendments to liberalise labour market
DELFI.lt, 25 Mar 2009
The Lithuanian government has approved amendments to the country's labour law, easing the way for employers to lay off staff. The amendments foresee a simplified process of dismissal, cutting severance pay by half, leveling the compensation for delay hours with the minimum wage, and raising the maximum overtime work to four hours per day. Moreover, the amendments would allow for dismissing employees with children under the age of ten through collective agreement. The temporary changes will be in effect until the end of 2010. The amendments will now go for a vote in the parliament. At present, only around 10% of Lithuanian companies have collective agreements.

Once a physics teacher in Uzbekistan, Shukhrat has to work as a builder in Russia to keep his family alive. He has been robbed, cheated, almost burned to death deliberately. Welcome to the life of a migrant worker.

Shukhrat Berdyev, a schoolteacher from Uzbekistan, is 48 years old. He was born in a suburb of Shakhrisabz, a provincial town 400 km from the capital Tashkent.

Before the collapse of the USSR his life followed a predictable script: happy childhood as a pioneer at the Lenin collective farm, studying at the Tashkent pedagogical institute, teaching psychics in a rural school, marriage, three children, membership of the Communist party and a future career as a party worker.

Everything changed after 1991, when the Soviet Union disappeared and the former Muslim colony of Uzbekistan became independent. If life in the Uzbek provinces was bearable in the early years of independence, by the mid-1990s everything had collapsed, from industry to agriculture.

Destitution forced millions of peasants to leave the republic. The majority went to Russia. Among them was Shukhrat Berdyev. He began writing a diary in August 1998, when he came to Russia for the first time after the collapse of the USSR. What follows are highlights from that diary.

Diary of an Uzbek Gastarbeiter
Mumin Shakirov, 11.03.2009
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/email/diary-of-an-uzbek-gastarbeiter

As Russia plunges into recession, its vast migrant workforce faces mounting abuse, reveals an important new report from Human Rights Watch.

The fate of millions of migrant workers in Russia is in the lurch as the country reels from the global financial crisis. Even in the best of times, during the recent years of Russia's major economic boom, migrant workers in Russia have been subject to widespread abuses both in and outside the workplace.

Now, economic crisis, coupled with a growing tide of hate-motivated violence in Russia, puts migrant workers at even greater risk. That is, unless the government takes immediate action to protect workers from abusive employers, employment agencies, and the police.

With over 40 percent of Russia's migrant workers employed in the construction industry, the fate of this sector is particularly relevant. Russia's multi-year construction boom, driven by high energy prices, appears to be grinding to a halt, with building projects across the country frozen and workers asked to go home.

Undefended - Russia's Migrant Workers
Jane Buchanan, 13.03.2009
http://www.opendemocracy.net/russia/article/russia-s-undefended-migrant-workers

Representing over 11 million trade union members

The Baltic Sea Trade Union Network (BASTUN) is a forum where the trade union confederations of the Baltic Sea Region exchange information and discuss and define common interests.

BASTUN aims at political and social influence, coordinates joint projects, and raises issues related to the Baltic Sea Region within the international trade union family.

BASTUN was established in Helsinki in July 1999, in connection with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Congress.

Today the Network consists of 22 trade union confederations around the Baltic Sea. The Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) is a strategic partner of BASTUN.

In 2008-2009, BASTUN is chaired by the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). The permanent secretariat of BASTUN, created in co-operation with the Council of Nordic Trade Unions (NFS), is located in Stockholm.

http://www.bastun.nu/

International Campaign in Support of Valentin Urusov

Dear friends!

In July 2008, workers of Russia’s largest diamond mining company, ALROSA, in Udachny in Sakha Republic (Yakutia), formed an independent trade union, which became a member of the independent trade union association SOTSPROF.

In two months, more than 1,000 workers joined the union. On 3 September 2008, the leader of the union, Valentin Urusov, was arrested on charges of possessing drugs. The drugs were planted on Mr Urusov to destroy the union and any worker resistance against the company. on 26 December 2008, Mr Urusov was sentenced to six years in a labour camp.

The city of Udachny has 15,000 inhabitants and is located in Russia’s Far North, 20 kilometres from the Polar Circle. The distance to the nearest major city is nearly 600 kilometres. The city is totally dependent on the diamond monopolist, ALROSA, and local authorities. ALROSA accounts for approximately 25% of the world’s rough diamond supply and 97% of Russia’s rough diamond production.

The workers at ALROSA began demanding better working conditions in spring 2008. For many years, the company’s drivers have had to do 70-130 hours overtime per month without proper overtime pay. Mine workers have to work with outdated equipment and without air heating. Health problems due to poisonous air are usual among miners.

Given that the workers’ demands found no response from the administration, ALROSA’s workers staged a hungerstike on 25-27 August 2008. After the administration announced that they will form a committee for negotiations, the hungerstrike was suspended. On 30 August 2008, more than 500 workers joined a union meeting in Udachny.

The negotiations committee should have completed its work by 5 September 2008, but on 3 September 2008, Mr Urusov was arrested with drug possession charges. Mr Urusov was allegedly found in possession of 70 grams of narcotics.

The arrest was conducted personally by the chief of the department of the Russian federal narcotics police (UFNSK) in Mirny, S. Rudov, who traveled 600 kilometres specifically for the purpose. The arrest was witnessed by the vice-director of the Aykhalsk mining plant’s department of economic safety, G. Pustovetov, and his driver.

Mr Urusov told his lawyer that he was practically kidnapped from the doorstep of his own home. He was driven 60 kilometres away from his home, where one of the anti-narcotics officers forced him to confess that the drugs were indeed his by shooting three warning shots next to his head, saying that his death would be classified as an escape attempt.

Right now, Valentin Urusov is waiting for the result of his appeal in a remand prison in Yakutsk, capital of Sakha Republic. Mr Urusov is suffering from kidney problems, but has been refused medical aid. His family is in need of financial help. Human rights organisations are now gathering funds to hire a lawyer for Mr Urusov.

For more information, write to the Institute of Collective Action [info@ikd.ru] with “Urusov” in the subject line.

International Campaign in Support of Valentin Urusov
Institute of Collective Action, 06.03.2009
http://ikd.ru/node/8951

Lithuania: Trade union leaders on trial
DELFI.lt, 03 Mar 2009
Trade union leaders in Lithuania will be tried for organising a demonstration, which led to disturbances outside the Lithuanian parliament on 16 January 2009. A court in Vilnius will hear the case against three trade union leaders on 31 March 2009. Those charged are Mr Vydas Puskepalis, chairman of the Lithuanian Labour Federation (LDF), Mr Arturas Cerniauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK), and Ms Aldona Jasinskiene, chairperson of the Solidarumas (Solidarity) trade union.

Lithuania: Trade union leader faces charges
DELFI.lt, 20 Feb 2009
The chairman of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK), Mr Arturas Cerniauskas, faces a fine or a jail sentence. LPSK was one of the organisers of a demonstration of small entrepreneurs in front of the Lithuanian parliament on 16 January 2009. The demonstration, in which around 7,000 people took part, turned violent as some demonstrators tried to storm the parliament building. Mr Cerniauskas is suspected of violating the law on public meetings for not leading the rioters away from the parliament building. He faces a fine of LTL 500-2,000 (EUR 145-580) or up to 30 days in jail.