Overview of the labor movement in the first half of February 2019

On Sakhalin, another protest against the transfer of the Kuril Islands to Japan

On February 7, a number of pickets were held in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk near the general consulate of the neighboring country. The protesters opposed Putin’s planned transfer of part of the Kuril Islands to Japan.

The reason for the protest event was the so-called "Day of the Northern Territories", which is celebrated by the ultra-right forces of this country.

Pickets at the Japanese consulate passed without incident.

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All-Russian protest action against the "junk" reform

Rallies and pickets under the slogan “Russia is not a garbage dump” took place on February 3 in dozens of cities of the country. Workers, students, pensioners, representatives of the intelligentsia opposed the creation of landfills, landfills for household waste near settlements. They also demanded a review or cancellation of the reform, which implies an increase in tariffs for garbage collection.

The largest meetings were held in the Arkhangelsk region. About two thousand people took to the streets of the capital of the region. Activists' speeches were held in many other localities of the region - in Kotlas, Urdoma, Shenkursk and Severodvinsk. The mass scale of the events is connected with the previously announced plan to take out Moscow garbage to the landfill near the Shies railway station, located in the region.

Protests against the reform were also held in Moscow, Leningrad, Gorky, Tolyatti, Sochi, Kazan, Cheboksary, Kirov, Izhevsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk and other cities.

People were holding posters with the words: "No to Moscow dumping trash in the North!", "Throw garbage on the mansions of the bourgeois!", "Powers to the landfill!", "Raising tariffs - a disregard of the people!".

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Mass strike in the south of Russia

At the beginning of February in the Rostov, Voronezh, Tambov, Volgograd Regions, as well as in the Krasnodar Territory and in the Stavropol region, a protest was held by drivers of heavy vehicles specializing in the transportation of agricultural products. The strikers demanded a single fare. Such a measure would allow to exclude from the pricing speculators-intermediaries.

Shipping rates for the year decreased by almost half.

The strike is caused by a catastrophic fall in prices in the transportation market. Today, more than 70 percent of the money received goes to the purchase of fuel. Taking into account other costs (taxes, “Plato”, repair of motor vehicles, daily allowance), there is no income left.

The tax collection system “for the repair of roads” (“Plato”) was forced upon the authorities three years ago. Mr Putin actively promoted it and signed a law passed by his party United Russia in the State Duma. Profit from "Plato" is recieve by Putin's friend Rotenberg.

In the city of Timashevsk, Krasnodar Territory, on February 1, during the strike, drivers of heavy trucks gathered together and decided to form a trade union to resolve all problems related to the protection of their social rights.

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Strike in Murmansk

On February 5, bus drivers did not take up their duties.

They are not satisfied with the increase in the rate of revenue. Previously, the owner required to give about 8.5 thousand rubles a day from one vehicle, and in February - 9-10 thousand. For this reason, the personal income of drivers has decreased, and in order to increase it, they will have to work harder, or travel with excess speed in order to intercept passengers from competing transport organizations.

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Abroad



Demonstrations in France

On February 5, demonstrations were held in the country, to which the General Confederation of Labor called. A total of about 300 thousand citizens took to the streets of Paris and other cities. More than 30 thousand took part in the protests in the capital, in Marseille, Lyon, and Strasbourg - 5 thousand demonstrators each. This action against the social policy of President Macron was joined by the Yellow Vests movement.

The protesters demaned higher wages, a fair distribution of income, and tax reform.

The demonstration in Paris resulted in clashes with police who used tear gas against activists.

Representatives of the General Confederation of Labor called for a strike every week, calling them "Tuesdays of a social emergency." The class struggle in France on that day again escalated to the limit.

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Strike in New Caledonia

In early February, the strike continued in the mines of the metallurgical plant, located on the territory of the French colony, which is located in the Pacific Ocean, east of Australia. The strike in the city of Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, was carried out by miners who advocated the abolition of the measures proposed as part of the restructuring of the company.

The capitalists planned to increase the working day to 10.5 hours and get the miners to work on Sunday. All this was the cause of the strike.

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Strike in the north of Germany

In Hamburg, on the night of 3 to 4 February, the protest action of employees of the local airport began.

The goal of the strike was to increase the salaries of the workers of the airport, including the supprt staff, the specialists employed in servicing the aircraft, as well as the bus drivers. The union demanded an increase in earnings of 275 euros for each, regardless of the size of his salary.

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Crowded protest in Spain

On February 3, in the center of Madrid, thousands of demonstrators marched in with a demand for higher pensions. Similar demonstrations in recent months in Spain have become frequent.

Protesters are unhappy with the increase in pension payments by only 0.25 percent, which took place as early as 2017, and require indexation in accordance with the level of inflation.

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