The protest against raising the retirement age in Russia is steadily expanding
Despite the summer, the season of holidays, the World Cup, in the first half of July, the number of rallies and pickets was continuously increasing in the country. This was not stopped even by the fact that in the largest cities of the country Putin banned the holding of such events until the middle of the month. The cause of large-scale discontent among the citizens was the anti-popular reform to raise the retirement age, conceived by Putin and Medvedev.
Protests against government plans took place in more than 50 cities. Mass rallies were held in Omsk, where about 4,500 people took part, Novosibirsk - 2500 people, Chelyabinsk - more than 2000 people, Arzamas - over 1500 participants, Orenburg, Vologda and Perm - more than 1000 people.
Numerous actions took place in Birobidzhan, Bryansk, Ivanovo, Kineshma, Izhevsk, Kaluga, Kurgan, Lipetsk, Miass, Murmansk, Orenburg, Saratov, Tomsk, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and other cities. Pickets also took place in Abakan, Apatity, Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Belgorod, Veliky Novgorod, Vladimir, Irkutsk, Kamensk-Uralsky, Kostroma and Nerekhta, Krasnodar, Kuvandyk, Magadan, Nizhnekamsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novokuznetsk, Novokuibyshevsk, Penza, Pskov, Tver, Yaroslavl, as well as in Shuya, Vichuga and Rodniki.
All actions were organized and conducted by supporters of socialism, regional trade union associations, and public activists. People went out to rallies and pickets with posters on which it was written: "We want to live in retirement, and not die before!", "Stop the pension genocide!", "Beat your fears youth, you'll miss it!", "Deputies, tell them "No to the cannibalistic law!", "I want to live on retirement, and not die at work!", "Putin is broadcasting, the people are begging," "A decent pension, not an increase in retirement age!". At many protests, participants called for the resignation not only of Medvedev, but also of Putin. In particular, this happened at a rally in Izhevsk, held on July 3 and gathered more than 600 people.
The scale of this popular protest and the clear sentiment of ordinary citizens against the anti-popular plans of Putin and Medvedev make it possible to assert that in the remaining summer days the number of rallies and pickets caused by pension reform will at least not diminish. The working classes of our country are really concerned about their future.
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Protest action in Ufa
On July 9, in the morning, the drivers of ambulances began to strike. The reason for the strike was the delay in the issuance of earnings. During the protest, drivers did not start their duties.
They have not been paid since April. The total debt amounted to four million rubles.
Drivers are also unhappy with the fact that during the last time the conditions of their work have greatly worsened. The earnings are negatively affected by deductions. If the driver deviates from the work schedule for more than 10 minutes, a fine of 350 rubles will be collected from him. And in the case of "over-normative" deductions from the driver's salary, 1800 rubles are "cut off".
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Builders in Sevastopol held a strike
In early July, a strike of workers engaged in laying the ring gas pipeline continued. At the end of June they began to strike, because in April 2018 they were no longer paid wages. According to the builders, the amount of debt exceeded the amount of 180 thousand rubles.
The building contractor paid wages in time for only 4 months, from the moment of the beginning of the construction work. Then the problems that the company promised to solve were to begin. However, all the assurances about the payment of debts have remained only promises. An appeal to the city prosecutor's office did not help either. Without waiting for the money, the workers stopped working. Some of them finally lost faith in the positive outcome of the case and went home.
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Picket in Tula
The problem of the lack of hot water in the summer has already become chronic in so many regions of the country. The people of Tula decided to mark out some ways to solve it with the help of the protest action.
On July 8, after the next shutdown of hot water supply, residents of the Petrovsky district went out to picket. The event took place on the site in front of Batashevsky Garden. People expressed their indignation by the fact that the shutdown of hot water lasted more than two weeks. At the same time they regularly pay all utility bills.
The picketers came out with slogans: "17 days without hot water", "They cheat like they want", "The providers are stealing from the needy".
This protest led to success. After filing a notice to the authorities for a picket, hot water appeared in the apartments, but people decided to hold the event to draw public attention to the problem.
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Miners in the west of Ukraine in protest again by blocking a road
On July 2 in Lviv region, over 50 miners took to the route of international importance Lviv - Rava-Russkaya. Having closed it by blocking the highway, they put forward demands for ending wage arrears. According to the union, the total debt to miners is 761.1 million hryvnia (29 million dollars equivalent). The miners blocked traffic on the road, taking breaks and allowing cars through every 15 minutes.
On the same day, 47 workers of Novovolynskoye mine did not come to the surface in protest at the delay in the payment of wages. The miners have not been paid for three months. Then the miners of one more shift joined them.
The miners intend to continue the fight in other forms - until the full implementation of their demands. For example, on July 4, a picket was held near the Lviv regional administration.
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Abroad
In Argentina, there were mass demonstrations
On July 9, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Buenos Aires to express their protest over the allocation of a loan from the International Monetary Fund to the country.
The protesters gathered near the monument "Obelisk" in the center of the city on the day when Argentina marks the next anniversary of independence.
Demonstrators opposed the loan, because they believe that after the allocation of money, the IMF will oblige the authorities to pursue a further policy of reducing government spending and layoffs in the public and private sectors of the economy.
Earlier, the IMF approved granting Argentina a loan of $ 50 billion.
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In Norway, a strike by oil workers
On July 10 more than 700 members of the oil and gas industry workers began a strike. At the same time they demanded that the pension rights were the same for all, regardless of whether the employee is new in the company or has many years of experience. According to the strikers, the wages of oilmen doing drilling work should correspond to the earnings of other workers of the enterprise. Meanwhile, it is lower.
This strike was attended by workers employed at facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf: service ships, mining and drilling offshore platforms. They also hoped that another 900 oilmen would join the strike.
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Protest action in France
In early July, air traffic controllers again announced a daily strike. Hundreds of flights on Western European routes were canceled.
The main demand by the strikers is to raise wages.
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