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FNPR Newsletter. March 6, 2025

06.03.2025

128

March 6, 2025

Dear colleagues,

This is our next newsletter with the FNPR position on certain aspects of social, economic and political situation in the Russian Federation.

The results of studies conducted by public opinion research centres continue to reflect a stable political environment in the country and a high level of confidence in the state leadership. According to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation on February 21-23, 2025, 82% of respondents positively assessed Vladimir Putin’s performance as President of the Russian Federation.

Summing up the results of socio-economic development for the past year is still going on. According to the updated data, Russia's GDP during 2024 grew by 4.1%. Meanwhile, industrial production grew by 4.6% over the same period, while manufacturing industry grew by 8.5%, indicating significant progress in the Russian economy in terms of import substitution. The rate of inflation, according to official statistics, remains quite high, but is not out of control. In 2024, the inflation was 9.52%, which is slightly higher than in 2023 (7.42%), but lower than in 2022 (11.94%).

It should be mentioned that, despite the continuing sanctions pressure, there is a tendency for the return of foreign enterprises that had previously pulled out of the Russian market. Since the sanctions campaign began, 560 companies ceased or suspended their activities in Russia, but as of the fourth quarter of 2024, 235 of them have already returned back. In terms of workers' real income, for the first eleven months of 2024 real wages on a country-wide average grew by 8.7% against the background of record-low unemployment: throughout the year it did not exceed 2.5%, whereas during the last three months (October-December) it was 2.3%.

While assessing these generally positive data, trade unions give credit to the government and its social and economic policies noting, however, that the positive trend in average performance conceals significant differences between industries. In this regard, it should be mentioned that at the end of January trade union experts of the Centre for monitoring and analysis of social-labour conflicts at the St. Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences published their annual review of social and labour conflicts in Russia for 2024.

According to the survey, out of the total number of 169 social-labour conflicts that occurred in the country over the year, 105 happened in the healthcare system. These conflicts were caused by lack of attention to the social consequences of decisions that negatively affected the salaries of ambulance drivers and paramedics in emergency stations. The Russian trade unions are demanding that regional authorities and the federal government take measures to overcome wage stagnation and address persistent deficiencies in public services.

Speaking about trade union disagreements with employers and the government, we cannot avoid the issue of overtime. In late 2024, the Ministry of Economic Development, responding to staff shortages in some industries, prepared a draft amendment to the Labour Code of the Russian Federation, according to which the permissible duration of overtime can be increased to 240 hours per year.

At present, the duration of overtime work in Russia cannot exceed four hours on two consecutive days, and 120 hours per year. The FNPR strongly protested against this government initiative. The discussions on this issue are still going on.

As for the special military operation, in February 2025 the Russian troops continued offensive across the line of contact. In particular, as of February 20, the Russian army has liberated 64% of the territory of the Kursk region captured by the armed forces of the Kiev regime in August 2024.

The world media has widely discussed the talks between the delegations of the Russian Federation and the U.S. held on 18 February, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, devoted to normalisation of bilateral relations. The talks in Riyadh took place six days after a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the U.S. President Donald Trump, during which the American leader announced his desire to put an end to the armed conflict in Ukraine and restore economic relations with our country.

The future will show whether changes in the rhetoric of the current U.S. administration indicate a real intention to revise the foreign policy doctrine of the previous administrations, according to which the United States is a global judge and policeman interpreting and applying international law around the world; in reality, this global policeman has represented and defended only the views and interests of the global elites. Ever since the occupation of Iraq, official Washington’s hegemonic policy has become a source of growing indignation not only around the world, but also in the United States itself, and the events of the past four years have clearly demonstrated its complete failure. The current U.S. leadership has a chance to learn from the lessons of the past and recognise the reality of a multipolar world.

Regardless of whether they seize this opportunity, Russia’s position on the conflict in Ukraine, as expressed in repeated public statements by President Putin and other officials, remains unchanged. It comes down to the fact that Russia is open to peace talks and seeks an early peaceful settlement, while at the same time emphasizing that a just and lasting peace can only be achieved by addressing the root causes which led to the armed conflict.

For Russia, as a prominent economist Jeffrey Sachs recently admitted in a speech to the European Parliament, this primarily refers to the security of Russian borders, put at risk by the NATO’s expansion to the East, as well as to protection from violence, persecution and de-facto destruction of the Russian-speaking population and citizens of our country previously residing in Ukraine and presently remaining in those territories, which we have reported in our newsletters before.

The trade unions of Russia, while hoping for a just and lasting peace settlement, continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the inhabitants of combat areas. Another batch of humanitarian aid was shipped by trade unions on February 21.

In addition to active participation in the events that are taking place here and now, Russian trade unions pay serious attention to memorable dates relating to the history of our trade union movement and our country as a whole. In connection with the 80th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, 2025 has been declared the Year of Defenders of the Fatherland.

Wishing to emphasize the social and labour aspect of the Year, the FNPR Executive Committee declared 2025 the Year of Labour Valour. The other commemorative dates that the FNPR intends to celebrate in 2025 are the 120th anniversary of the trade union movement in Russia and the 35th anniversary of the FNPR.