cyu
11th August 2009, 20:35
Excerpts from http://www.mnweekly.ru/news/20090811/55384938.html
President Dmitry Medvedev reacted to workers' complaints of mismanagement by announcing an inquiry into state-run companies.
The protest, organized by the Edinstvo, or Unity, trade union, went off without incident, although many more than the planned 500 participants attended. Union leader Pyotr Zolotaryov called for AvtoVAZ to be nationalised, and union activists said the plant should come under workers' control.
AvtoVAZ, which is controlled by state corporation Russian Technologies, announced last month it was sending workers on an enforced furlough for August and slashing hours and wages in half starting in September.
Analysts fear there may be social unrest in Tolyatti, a city of 700,000, on a much larger scale than in Pikalyovo, a small Leningrad region town where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin intervened in June to get three factories reopened and back wages paid.
President Dmitry Medvedev reacted to workers' complaints of mismanagement by announcing an inquiry into state-run companies.
The protest, organized by the Edinstvo, or Unity, trade union, went off without incident, although many more than the planned 500 participants attended. Union leader Pyotr Zolotaryov called for AvtoVAZ to be nationalised, and union activists said the plant should come under workers' control.
AvtoVAZ, which is controlled by state corporation Russian Technologies, announced last month it was sending workers on an enforced furlough for August and slashing hours and wages in half starting in September.
Analysts fear there may be social unrest in Tolyatti, a city of 700,000, on a much larger scale than in Pikalyovo, a small Leningrad region town where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin intervened in June to get three factories reopened and back wages paid.