01.05.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

32 million people estimated to be affected by new law adopted in 2005, which reformed system of benefits for pensioners and others depending on assistance; privious privileges replaced by payments of 450 rubles, deterioration of living standards criticise ("Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2006 (Events of 2005)") [ID 15651]

"A controversial new law that took effect as of January 2005, which the government argued was aimed at preventing corruption, reformed the system of social benefits for pensioners, disabled, war veterans and others depending on assistance from the state. Under the new system, privileges previously enjoyed by the relevant categories of citizens, such as free travel on public transportation and free medicine, were generally replaced by monetary payments of 450 rubles per month (less than EUR 15). At the same time, the responsibility for providing payments was shifted from the federal authorities to regional authorities for a major part of all those 32 million people who were estimated to be affected by the law.

The new law gave rise to mass protests among those affected by it as well as political parties that came to their support. The opponents of the law argued that the new monetary payments did not adequately compensate the lost benefits and therefore resulted in a deterioration of living standards. Protests took place in most of the country’s regions and continued with varying intensity until May-June. Up to 70% of the protest actions were held under the leadership of activists of the Communist Party.
As a result of the protests the new law gave rise to, the federal budget for social assistance was increased."

Document(s): Open document

01.05.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Failure of employers to pay salaries in a timely manner remained serious problem, highest salary debts registered in Moscow; attitudes of employers mostly not conducive to solution of problem ("Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2006 (Events of 2005)") [ID 15652]

"The backlog of unpaid salaries from past years decreased throughout the country, but was still considerable in many regions. The highest salary debts were registered in Moscow (393 million rubles or approx. EUR 11.5 million in unpaid salaries), the Altai krai (445.5 million rubles or EUR 13.1 million), the Irkutsk region (382.2 million rubles or EUR 11.2 million) and the Primorsky krai (374.3 million rubles or EUR 11 million).

In some cases managers of companies that had failed to pay salaries were brought to administrative responsibility and ordered to pay penalties. However, such penalties were typically very low. For example, the director of a company in the city of Bryansk that had had close to 94 million rubles (EUR 2,8 million) in outstanding salary payments with respect to its more than 15,000 employees was given a penalty of 1,000 rubles (EUR 30).

Criminal prosecutions were brought only in cases when there was evidence that a company had not paid salaries because of mismanagement of funds. A criminal case was, for example, opened against the director of a company in the region of Chelyabinsk that had used company funds to buy a new luxurious car for himself, while the company had a salary debt of 30 million rubles (EUR 88,000).
In many cases, the attitudes of employers were not conducive to a solution of the problem of outstanding salaries. For example, managers of companies with salary debts claimed that regular salary payments were not necessary for seasonal type of work or that it was justified to refrain from paying salaries to prevent a company from going bankrupt.

Within the agricultural sector salary payments were sometimes made in kind, i.e., in the form of agricultural products. As in previous years, pension payments were often late."

Document(s): Open document

08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

Conditions of Work ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46144], [ID 11987]

"The monthly minimum wage, essentially an accounting reference for calculating transfer payments, increased to $28 (800 rubles) on September 1, up from $26 (720 rubles). The monthly official subsistence level of approximately $86 (2,451 rubles) was not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Approximately 18 percent of the population had incomes below the official subsistence minimum. Average wages rose to approximately $304 (8,655 rubles) per month, compared with approximately $250 (7,126 rubles) per month in 2004.

The law provides a standard workweek of 40 hours, with at least one 24-hour rest period, and requires premium pay for overtime work or work on holidays; however, workers complained that employers required them to work in excess of the standard workweek, abrogated negotiated labor agreements, and of forced transferred them against their will.

Although nonpayment of wages declined, especially in the public sector, it continued to be the most widespread abuse of labor legislation. For example, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported on December 8 that utility workers in the town of Kimovsk, Tula Oblast, had begun a second week of "industrial action" to protest $400 thousand (11 million rubles) in unpaid wages. Wage arrears through July totaled $390 million (11.1 billion rubles), 50 percent less than the same period in 2004.

The law imposes penalties on employers who pay their employees late or make partial payments and requires them to pay two-thirds of a worker's salary if the worker remains idle by some fault of the employer. Proving that an employer was at fault, however, was difficult. Courts often were willing to rule in favor of employees seeking payment of back wages, but collection remained difficult. Courts often insisted that cases be filed individually, in contradiction to the Law on Trade Unions, thereby undercutting union attempts to include the entire membership in one case. Individually filed cases made for a lengthier process, one more difficult for the individual worker, and one that left them more exposed to possible retaliation (see section 6.b.).

Although the law establishes minimum conditions for workplace safety and worker health, the government did not allocate sufficient financial and human resources to enforce these standards effectively. In many cases, workers wore little protective equipment in factories, enterprises stored hazardous materials in open areas, emergency exits were locked, and smoking was permitted near containers of flammable substances.

The law provides workers the right to remove themselves from hazardous or life-threatening work situations without jeopardy to their continued employment; however, the government did not effectively enforce this right. The risk of industrial accidents or death for workers decreased but remained high. For the first half of the year, there were 1,960 work-related deaths, down from 2,021 in the first half of 2004.

The law entitles foreign workers residing and working legally in the country to the same rights and protections as citizens, and the law prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, foreign workers reportedly were brought into the country to perform such labor (see section 6.c.). Foreign workers residing and working illegally in the country may be subject to deportation but may seek recourse through the court system. There were credible reports that hundreds of thousands of citizens of other CIS countries worked illegally in Moscow and other larger cities for lower wages than citizens and under generally poor conditions. There were reports that police abused and defrauded illegal migrant workers who were minorities (see section 5)."

Document(s): Open document

03.06.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

Protests against reforms of social benefits starting in January 2005 still continuing throughout Russia ("Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation [Doc. 10568]") [#32710], [ID 11988]

"46. During our visit in Moscow in November 2004, a number of NGO's expressed great concern over the reform of social benefits: as of 1 January 2005, those who benefited from free transportation, from a reduction in their telephone or television bills or were entitled to medical services in kind will be provided with a monetary allowance. For the Moscow region alone, this will require a budget of 3.5 billion Roubles.

47. Russian citizens went out to the streets to protest against a reform aimed at the liberalisation of the country's economics and a reduction in budget expenditures. The protests began in January and still continue to occur throughout Russia. In mid-February 2005, 284 rallies took place simultaneously in 77 regions with an estimated quarter of million protesters. The Federal Government, nonetheless, survived a confidence vote due to the overwhelming majority that the pro-presidential faction holds in the parliament. At the same time, there was a sharp fall of President Putin's rating – Public Opinion Foundation data showed that in February 2005 42% of the electorate would have voted for Mr Putin compared with 65% during his re-election in March 2004."

Document(s): Open document

03.2002 - Source:

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: Two thirds of the Russian population live below the poverty line ("03/2002 - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: Wirtschaftsaufschwung, Modernisierung und Elitenwandel in Russland") [ID 11989]

"Dennoch leben ca. 45,2 Millionen Bürger, also nahezu ein Drittel (31,3%) der Gesamtbevölkerung, laut der russischen Statistik, unterhalb des Existenzminimums, das im zweiten Quartal des Jahres 2001 1507 Rubel ( ca. 120 DM) betrug. Was die Lage der russischen Arbeitnehmer anbetrifft, so ist die Situation der Beschäftigten im öffentlichen Bereich immer noch besorgniserregend. Die Löhne und Gehälter dieser Arbeitnehmergruppe betragen nämlich weniger als die Hälfte der Löhne der in der Industrie Beschäftigten. Dies, obwohl 2001 die Löhne und Gehälter von Beschäftigten des öffentlichen Dienstes zweimal erhöht wurden, was den Staatshaushalt für 2002 mit etwa 54,3 Milliarden Rubel (4 Mrd. DM) belasten wird. Während in der Privatwirtschaft die Lohnaußenstände seit 1999 kontinuierlich zurück gegangen sind, sind sie im öffentlichen Sektor teilweise noch beträchtlich. Sie betrugen, alle staatlichen Ebenen eingerechnet, am 1. Oktober 2001 noch 34.174 Millionen Rubel (ca. 1 Mrd. US Dollar). 2001 hatte Russland einen ausgeglichenen Staatshaushalt, der sogar einen moderaten Überschuss von sieben 6 Mrd. US Dollar oder 2,4% des BSP auswies. Die Steuereinnahmen lagen 8% über dem angestrebten Ziel5."

Document(s): 03/2002 - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: Wirtschaftsaufschwung, Modernisierung und Elitenwandel in Russland