Workers of the turning shop of the Unitary Enterprise (UE) "Lyoss" (in the town of Baran) failed to enforce their demands on salary increase. Despite the July promises to increase the rates, the employer continues paying under the old ones. The Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (SPM), according to its leader Vasily Levchenkov, has drawn lessons from the failed workers' protest action of workers: to efficiently struggle the trade union needs its strike fund.

Let us remind you that on June 15-16 workers of the turning shop No. 3 of the UE "Lyoss" came to their workplaces, but refused to work. They protested against the employer's refusal to fulfil the earlier reached agreements to increase the rates. The director then warned the workers that if they did not start to work he would give the order to another contractor. Besides, he promised that in July the rates may be increased. After a consultation, on June 17 the workers decided to suspend their strike.

However in July, despite a great volume of orders, the rates were not increased. As Mr Levchenkov told the website www.praca-by.info, the employer said to the workers that since the state had increased the tariff rate of Category I for all the workers, the salary went up; therefore the factory labour rates would remain unchanged. Then the workers offered to lift the rates not by 30 percent, as they had been promised in spring, but less, with account of the tariff rate growth; however, the employer would not agree.

To cope with a big order, the administration even had to invite pensioners and workers from other shops.

In Vasily Levchenkov's opinion, the turners' strike is no serious threat for the administration. The employer understands that it cannot last long: the workers have to earn money to support themselves and their families.

"We understood it earlier, but now we've seen in practice – we need the strike fund," said Vasily. "People cannot resort to a strike, because they can't stay without money for any long time. They can keep striking for two-three days at most; and bosses from the administration understand it well either. They were absolutely calm waiting for these several days, because they knew that workers wouldn't protest for long. Otherwise, they'll have nothing to live on later. On the third day several especially needy workers went up to their machine tools and, as a matter of fact, further strike of the rest of them lost its sense."

According to the trade-union leader, the SPM has made a conclusion: in order to efficiently defend workers' interests, including by means of a strike, the union needs some strike fund. This issue will be discussed by SPM activists in the near future.

"We live not in the time, when workers' demands on improving labour conditions and increasing wages were a sort of ideological fight of revolutionaries, which required full self-sacrifice and self- repudiation," Mr Levchenkov believes. "The worker should take care of his family: repay loans, pay for children's education, apartment bills and just live on something. It's nice if as a result of a strike the demands will be satisfied; then we may hope to have some compensation. But if we lose?"

Besides, as the trade-union leader has noted, the strike fund in place will force the employer to be more compliant.

"It's one thing, when the employer understands that his workers won't strike for long all the same; but it's absolutely another case, when the employer knows that the trade union has money to compensate – at least partially – the salary lost during the strike," Vasily has summed up.