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Using a range of official and survey data, the author evaluates the relative success of two approaches--competitive labor market theory and industrial relations theory/institutional economics--in explaining wage determination in Russia. Following a review of the analysis of wage determination by an influential team of World Bank economists, the author shows that increased wage inequality in Russia is dominated by inequality within occupational categories within local labor markets. Such inequality, he suggests, is primarily associated with inter-firm differences in wage levels, rather than barriers to labor mobility or differences in 'human capital.' Such a pattern of differentiation entirely accords with the analyses of those institutional economists and industrial relations theorists who stress the role of the wage in regulating and motivating the labor force above its role in securing labor market equilibrium. The paper concludes by outlining the institutional framework of wage determination that underlies the observed results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the history and evolution of labor unions in Russia. The author traces labor unions from their beginning in 1905 through periods and events such as the 1917 Revolution, Lenin's leadership, Stalin's industrialization policies, Gorbachev's perestroika and throughout the Soviet Union and Russian Federation's existence. The transition efforts made by trade unions to retain their relationship with the Russian political leaders are reported. The article explains the government's efforts to show support for the working class and the relations between labor and political activity.

This paper identifies the constraints and opportunities facing trade unions in post-socialist societies through a comparison of the Russian and Chinese cases. The paper charts the changing role of trade unions in the integration of state-socialist economies into global capitalism and argues that this presents the trade unions with a dilemma: whether to reconstitute their traditional role through collaboration with management and the state apparatus, or whether to develop their ability to defend the rights and interests of workers. While the former offers the line of least resistance, there are progressive elements pushing for change in both trade union movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to a market economy in Russia did not initially lead to significant changes in the social organisation of production, leading some to doubt that Russia was in transition to capitalism at all. Since the 1998 devaluation, Russian capitalist holding companies have invested in industrial enterprises. This article reviews the impact of such investment on the management structure of Russian companies on the basis of a series of intensive case studies. The case studies show a very consistent pattern of strictly centralised hierarchical management, which reproduces many features of the traditional Soviet system of administrative control, using financial rather than physical indicators, with production subordinate to projected sales, but very limited change in the traditional forms of personnel and production management. In conclusion, the question is raised whether this represents a distinctively Russian form of capitalism or is merely a transitional stage of capitalist development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the findings of a recent survey of Russian households (N = 4023) which included questions on household budgetary management and financial decision-making. The findings are related to comparable British research on these questions. The budgetary practices of Russian households are shown to correspond to those typical of dual-earner Western households, but there is almost none of the variation according to socio-demographic characteristics of the household which has been found in British studies. In particular, there is no significant tendency for a higher degree of independence in budgeting or for men to have a larger say in higher income households or in those in which the woman defines herself as a housewife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on recent research on the job search and placement strategies of Russian employees. Wage differentials have increased enormously in Russia, which would lead a labour economist to expect that informal methods of job search would have declined as people have to widen their search to get better jobs while employers open up competition to reduce wages. In fact the data clearly show that it has become increasingly important to have the help of personal and family connections to get a job. This closure of the labour market is on the initiative of employers, who take the opportunity of easier labour market conditions not so much to reduce wages, as to pursue much more selective hiring policies. This helps to explain why very high wage differentials persist, despite the high rate of labour mobility in Russia. Hiring through personal connections not only provides a firmer guarantee of the professional, social and personal qualities of the applicant, but also worsens job matches, and reinforces the 'feudalization' and criminalization of post-soviet management and the social exclusion of those not embedded in appropriate networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of the new private sector in Russia has been associated with the expansion of trade and services, requiring a labour force with different occupational and skill characteristics from those of the Soviet economy. This paper reports on the first research ever undertaken on training practices in the new private sector in Russia. The analysis is based on forty case studies of new private enterprises and a large-scale household survey in four relatively prosperous Russian cities carried out in the first half of 1998. The paper shows that the old system of vocational retraining has largely collapsed, but very little has arisen to take its place. The majority of new private employers make little provision for the training of their employees, relying heavily on training provided by previous state employers or on the motivation of their own employees or prospective employees to undertake training on their own initiative, at their own expense and in their own time. At the same time, the availability of appropriate training is limited and it is extremely expensive in relation to the resources available to new private employers. Nevertheless, those who undertake training experience significant increases in earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which examined 40 private business enterprises in urban labor markets in Russia. Characteristics of private sector employment; Employment strategies and labor turnover in the private sector; Level of pay and qualifications in the private sector; Conclusions.

Explores the changing character of internal mobility at Russian industrial enterprises over the period of reform under the Soviet Union. Discussion on the dualistic character of the Soviet labor market; Reviews on qualitative data to characterize the changing forms of internal mobility from the perspective of employees; Contention that the increase employment insecurity has reinforce the dualism of the Russian labor market.

This paper assesses the claims that employment in the new Russian private sector relies heavily on informal and unregistered labour agreements and that the violation of existing labour law by new private employers is driven by their need for more flexible working arrangements. The paper shows that these claims are unsupported on every count. The new private sector does not rely heavily on informal or illegal forms of employment and there is no evidence that it uses labour more flexibly, in any of the usual senses of the term, than the traditional sectors of the economy. The conclusion is that there is no economic justification for the systematic violation of the existing labour legislation. It is suggested, therefore, that enforcement of the existing law is a precondition for its effective reform in those areas in which it might be a barrier to restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines data, incidence and causes of poverty in Russia. Russian economic catastrophe; Data sources on poverty; Poverty definitions in Russia; Problems of interpretation; Limitations of household data; Employment insecurity; Nonpayment of wages and benefits; Stabilization and the demonetization of the Russian economy; System of social support; Poverty and economic growth.

This article addresses the question: how many people are employed in the new private sector in Russia and what are the principal characteristics of the new private firms that employ them? Following a review of the available data, the analysis of new household survey data suggests that the new private sector in Russia is much healthier than many pessimistic commentators have supposed. It has not played the transformative role that optimists might have hoped, but it has been growing steadily through the 1990s and now dominates the branches of trade, catering and services that it has made its own. On the other hand, the new private sector has made much less progress in the productive sphere and its future prospects in the absence of overall economic growth are more uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the systematic non-payment of wages in Russia, a manifestation of the absence of the rule of law in the federation. Implication on the development of trade unionism; Relationship between wage laborer and employer; Russia's overdue wages in 1997; Responsibilities of employers; Actions taken by Russian workers and their unions to alleviate the problem.

Presents case studies on privatized industrial enterprises in Russia. Workers' control and the control of workers in the Soviet enterprise; Soviet enterprise in the transition to capitalism; Strategies under privatization; Pionerka, Bratchenko, LenKon and Plastmass companies.

The article reports on the Russian miners' strike of February 1996. The Russian coal miners' strike began on February 1, 1996. The February 1996 strike came at an especially delicate time, in a situation in which the Communist Party was on a roll following its electoral triumph, Anatolii Chubais, the last reformer in the government, had just been sacked, and President of Russia Boris Yeltsin was about to announce his candidacy for the June Presidential election. Everybody was desperate to demonstrate their commitment to the people, and the miners once more presented themselves as representative of the people. The background to this strike, as of all those of the past three years, was the economic demands of the miners which focused on the payment of the subsidy due to the industry from the state budget. The February strike revealed the same weaknesses and inadequacies in trade union organisation as had been shown in previous strikes. The weakness of the strike had a number of sources.

The article presents information on the workers' movement in Russia. The program of perestroika initiated with the election of Mikhail Gorbachev, general secretary of the Communist Party of Russia, in 1985 was essentially a program which sought to restructure production relations from above, unleashing a factional struggle within the ruling stratum which increasingly centred on the transformation of class relations. As this factional struggle polarized, each party sought to secure the support of the working class. Gorbachev himself initiated the process of working class mobilization in 1987. In the first stages this involved the attempt to provide incentives for the transformation of production relations, and to open new channels for workers' self-determination, but still within the limits of the old system of enterprise and ministerial direction. The failure to make headway led Gorbachev to call for a more active response from the workers, to sweep away managerial and ministerial resistance to reform, in 1989.

On the basis of a detailed study of two ‘independent’ unions, representing pilots and air traffic controllers, this paper argues that there are very limited prospects for independent trade unionism in Russia at present. The air traffic controllers' union has adopted a resolutely independent and militant strategy of pursuing the sectional interests of its members, which has brought it into conflict with management, other unions and the government. The pilots' union, by contrast, has sought to consolidate the position of its members as a labour aristocracy, collaborating closely with management to secure its privileged position. The success of the pilots contrasts starkly with the heavy defeat suffered by the air traffic controllers following their strikes in August and December 1992, indicating the barriers that face the attempt to create trade unions independent of management in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the worker's movement in Russia during 1987-1992. How was the first stage of the worker's movement defined; What factors contributed to the worker's movement; Reference made to the March 1990 elections in the country; Details on the miner's strike in 1991; Importance this strike in dismantling the old political system in the country.

Agues that the key to the regeneration of trade-unionism in Russia is the development of effective forms of participatory trade unionism within the workplace. Dominant Western conceptions of Soviet unions; Role of trade unions and industrial relations in the Soviet system; Growth of industrial conflict and rise of independent workers' movement since 1991; Industrial relations in the transition to market economy.