July 05, 2008

Railway union leader warned over proposed strike

Interfax reported that the Moscow Regional Transport Prosecutor's Office has issued a warning to railway workers union leader Mr Yevgeny Kulikov in relation to plans to stage a strike in the Yaroslavl railway sector.

The Prosecutor General's Office in a statement said that "The trade union leader has been warned that he will be held to account for approving the decision to suspend work by locomotive drivers."

The statement said that "Some of the locomotive drivers of the Pushkino and Zheleznodorozhanaya locomotive depots, at the call of the primary organization of the Russian Locomotive Drivers Union's Moscow Railway Trade Union Committee, suspended work on April 28 and 29 in violation of current legislation, which disrupted railway schedules.”

The Prosecutor General's Office said that the Federal Law on Railway Transport does not allow general railway transport workers, whose functions have to do with the movement and maneuvering of trains and providing services to passengers, to go on strike.

He added that Mr Kulikov was warned that violations of the law were unacceptable.