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FNPR Newsletter. April 18, 2024

18.04.2024

127

April 18, 2024

Dear colleagues,

Since the beginning of the year, economic growth in Russia has continued. During the first two months, industrial production grew by 6.6%. The greatest progress has been made in metal-work manufacture (growth of 51.1%, except machinery and equipment), computers, electronic and optical products (+47.2%), vehicles and transport equipment, including aircraft and shipbuilding (+38.6%). In certain parts of the country, like the Moscow region, for instance, the overall growth was +15%.

The shortage of qualified engineers and specialists remains a constraint on the social and labour spheres. With Russia’s record-low unemployment rate in March (2.8% according to the ILO methodology), many businesses compete for labour by offering more attractive wages and benefits which, according to experts, creates unjustified labour market distortions. At the same time, employers and trade unions carry out joint programmes for retraining and advanced training of employees and provide social packages in collective agreements aimed at supporting workers and their families and involving young people in production activity. In general, economic situation remains stable, without negative trends, with a minimum number of labour conflicts over the past decade.

March 2024 was marked by a major event in the internal life of Russia. Presidential elections were held on 15-17 March, in which 77.49% of those eligible to vote participated. This was the highest voter turnout in Russia’s electoral history. Of the four candidates on the ballot, Vladimir Putin received the largest number of votes (87.28%). Other candidates received between 4.31% and 3.20% of the votes.

For the first time the voting was held for three days, which was done to ensure the safety of voters in the four new regions, as well as in a number of border regions of Russia, where shelling and sabotage attacks by the Ukrainian army continue. Traditional paper ballots were used along with automated ballot scanning systems and remote electronic voting. The elections were organised in remote and hard-to-reach areas, on ships and vessels, as well as for two million Russian citizens abroad.

The elections were held in full compliance with the requirements of national legislation and the universally recognised international norms and were widely covered in the media. They were monitored by more than 330,000 public observers, including 1,115 foreign representatives from 129 countries, who did not record any serious violations that could affect the overall voting results.

The inauguration of the president-elect will take place in early May.

As usual, International Women’s Day was widely celebrated in Russia on March 8. This tradition has been maintained since 1921. Much attention is paid in our country to the protection of motherhood and childhood, support for large families, and to the creation of favourable conditions for working women. It should be noted that in the Russian trade union movement, women account for almost half (49%) of the total membership, and 75% of union activists are women.

March marked the 10th anniversary of the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation. Recall that in the spring of 2014, referendums were held, in which more than 90% of the residents of these regions voted to become part of Russia. According to the majority of Russian citizens living in Crimea, their quality of life has improved significantly. Transportation services have been established, problems of fresh water and energy supply were resolved. All infrastructure projects conceived in 2014 have been implemented, and the accelerated development of these regions continues with a view to overcome their backwardness and raise their standard of living to match that of the other subjects of the Russia.

Meanwhile, the special military operation in Ukraine is going on. The Russian armed forces continue to liberate territories with a predominantly Russian-speaking population from Ukrainian nationalist armed formations. In March and early April, armed acts of sabotage continued on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Artillery, MLRS and drones of the Ukrainian regime continue to target civilians in the border regions of Russia with the intention to strike fear and sow division in our population. Unfortunately, there have been human casualties, including among children.

On March 22, a horrific terrorist attack took place in Moscow's Crocus City Hall. Four armed men broke into the concert hall shooting people on the move from automatic weapons, and then set it on fire.

According to the latest data, 145 people, including 6 children, were killed in the attack, and at least 550 were injured. Nine children from six families were orphaned. The final number of casualties has not yet been determined, as more than 100 people are still missing, possibly being victims of the fire.

To date, 12 persons have been arrested on the case of the attack on «Crocus», including four direct participants in the attack and their accomplices. They were detained 140 kilometres from the border with Ukraine, where, according to their testimony, the Ukrainian side had made arrangements for crossing the border. An investigation is underway to identify all the individuals and organisations involved in the planning, preparation and financing of this atrocity.

This terrorist act has rallied the population of the country even more closely together. Suffice it to say, in the first days after the attack, 24,000 people donated 10,000 litres of blood for the victims.

The most important event in the trade union life of Russia was the 12^th FNPR Congress held on April 3-5 in Moscow. It was attended by over 600 delegates from all regions of the country, as well as 200 guests and representatives of foreign trade unions. The delegates discussed the activity report and fifteen resolutions on the main areas of trade union work, adopted an updated activity programme, the title of which "For a Fair Economy" accurately reflects the delegates' mood. The key resolutions "A decent wage for every worker", "Union protection for every worker", "Health and Safety at Work - the Most Important Task of the Unions", "Organising and Staff Capacity Building - the Basis of Effective Activity of the Unions", "For the Solidarity of Workers in a Multipolar World" have formulated approaches and challenges for the next five-year period.

The Congress was attended by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who addressed the delegates and announced a number of initiatives in the social and labour spheres. He noted that trade union proposals on the development of social partnership, addressing the issue of wage increases and staffing problem hindering economic development, had been used in drawing up presidential State of the Nation address, which defines the main directions of state policy. The full text of his speech at the Congress is available at http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/73791

The Congress elected Mikhail Shmakov the FNPR president for another five-year term. The statutory elected bodies of the Federation were formed.

We will continue to inform you about the most important events in the life of the Russian trade movement and will be ready to provide comprehensive explanations.