MOSCOW, May 19, 2009. Russians Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing how Russians evaluate the situation regarding the protection of labor rights in Russia, the impact of trade unions on the situation of workers, and what kind of trade union activity they participate most of all.
The attitude of Russians concerning the level of protection of labor rights of Russian citizens has not considerably changed over the last fifteen years. The overwhelming majority of Russians still think that the labor rights of Russians are not adequately enough protected (81%). The share of those who have the opposite opinion has slightly increased (from 6% to 9%). Inadequate labor rights protection was often reported by the qualified workers, Russians holding a higher education diploma, specialists with higher education outside the production sector (science, culture, education), as well as workers without higher education (85-86%). However, state workers have the opposite point of view more often than others (33%).
Only 8% of the working population of Russia consider that trade unions substantially improve the situation among workers. Those who are satisfied with the performance of their trade union are often state servicemen and unqualified workers (13% and 12% respectively). Thirty-two per cent of respondents mention that trade unions do not have much influence on the workers though it exists (in 2005 - 40%); most of them are Russians with higher education outside the production sector (43%). However, the overwhelming majority of the working respondents report that there are no trade unions at all in the companies where they work (53%). As a rule, there are no trade unions in private companies and in the army (78% and 67% respectively).
The number of trade unions members is decreasing during the recent four years: the percentage of members made up 30-34% during 2005-2007. Now it is 23%. The typical members are Russians with higher education outside production (32%). Russians also more often declare that they are not trade union members (the share of such respondents has grown from 64% to 76% since 2005); most of them are servicemen and entrepreneurs (92% for each).
The members of trade unions use it to get material wealth: financial support (30%) sanatorium accommodation cards (20%). Only every tenth (10%) use trade unions to solve labor disputes. Very few Russians seek legal advice from trade unions (6%).
The most popular form of trade union activity is the participation in the meetings that deal with settling the labor disputes (the share of such respondents has decreased from 38% to 31% over a year). Such meetings are often visited by mostly specialists with higher education diplomas outside the production sector (48%) and qualified workers 45%). The second place is still held by the participation in the public activities (22%, in 2008 - 31%); most of them are representatives of the business sector (67%). Other forms of trade union activities are less popular among respondents: only 5% take part in signing petitions, 3% - in strikes and rallies. And finally, the share of those who did not take part in any form of activities has risen over a year (from 38% to 42%). Most of them are workers without higher education (67%) and unqualified personnel (50%).
The initiative Russian opinion poll was conducted on May 9-10, 2009. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
In your opinion, are labor rights of the Russian population adequately protected now? (close-ended question, one answer , % of the working respondents) | ||
| 1994 | 2009 |
yes | 6 | 9 |
no | 81 | 81 |
hard to tell | 13 | 9 |
Is there a trade union in your company (organization, institution)? If "yes", then does it have any positive influence on the workers? (close-ended question, one answer , % of the working respondents) | ||||
| 2005 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
no, there is no trade union in our company | 42 | 50 | 44 | 53 |
there is a trade union, but it does not have much influence on the workers | 40 | 34 | 35 | 32 |
it has a big influence on the workers improving their situation | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 |
hard to tell | 9 | 8 | 14 | 7 |
Are you a member of the trade union of your company? | ||||
| 2005 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
yes | 34 | 30 | 24 | 23 |
no | 64 | 68 | 72 | 76 |
hard to tell | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
If you are a trade union member at you company, could you indicate in which forms of trade union activity you took part? | ||
| 2008 | 2009 |
participation in meetings which deal with settling labor disputes | 39 | 31 |
rallies, strikes organized by trade unions to protect our rights and interests | 7 | 3 |
sighing petitions in support of trade unions initiatives | 7 | 5 |
Participation in public actions organized by trade unions (charities, trips, welfare activities and et cet.) | 31 | 22 |
I did not take part in any kind of activities | 38 | 42 |
other | 2 | 4 |
hard to tell | 4 | 9 |
Are you positioned or inclined to... over the recent two or three years? | |||
| yes | no | hard to tell |
to get financial support from the trade union mutual fund | 30 | 63 | 7 |
to receive a sanatorium accommodation card to get medical treatment and have a rest (both for you and your children) | 20 | 73 | 7 |
to use trade unions to settle labor disputes and conflicts | 10 | 82 | 7 |
to seek legal advice on labor activity | 6 | 87 | 8 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM,
the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!