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Vol. 81/No. 45 December 4, 2017
Russian truckers set strike, presidential campaign
BY EMMA JOHNSON
Long-haul truckers across Russia have called a third strike Dec. 15-25
to press their fight to scrap onerous highway taxes that threaten to
bankrupt them. Their union, the Association of Carriers of Russia,
picked the critical Christmas holiday period to maximize the impact of
the work stoppage.
“In addition, the registration of presidential candidates should begin
approximately at this time,” Andrey Bazhutin, the union’s leader, told
the Russian Independent Nov. 15. In June, Bazhutin announced that he
will run for president of the Russian Federation in the March 2018
elections to “represent the interests of working people.”
For two years the truckers have been locked in a hard-fought battle with
the government, which refuses to even meet with them. They have
persisted through arrests and harassment from cops and National Guard
troops, broken through a government-imposed virtual media blackout, won
solidarity and joined in other anti-government protests.
Their fight was triggered by the November 2015 establishment of the
Platon system — “pay-per-ton.” It imposes a per-mile toll on trucks
weighing more than 12 tons.
The December work stoppage will involve drivers in 50 of Russia’s 85
federal regions. The union organized national strikes in November 2015
and March this year. They have held rallies, set up informational
pickets and organized protest camps and convoys touring different
cities. Truckers hang their rigs with slogans and demands to spread the
word about the fight as they make their runs. Over the two-year period,
tens of thousands of drivers have been involved, affecting virtually all
regions across the country.
During the summer Bazhutin led a road caravan of a few cars and a
minibus and held rallies in Murmansk, Vologda, Tver, Moscow and St.
Petersburg. When they set up an informational picket in Yoshkar-Ola, 400
miles east of Moscow, several members of the local Popular Movement for
Housing joined them, as well as local unionists and supporters of
national opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
The previous summer Bazhutin led a convoy to Krasnodar in southern
Russia in support of hundreds of farmers who had organized a tractor
convoy heading to Moscow to protest the loss of land to large
agricultural holding companies. Riot cops blockaded the convoy just
outside Rostov, arresting some participants.
The truckers also made contact with miners on hunger strike in the
Rostov region, where 2,200 workers were owed a-year-and-a-half’s back
wages.
During the March strike, Bazhutin was jailed for allegedly driving
without a license and spent five days in jail. The cops then harassed
his family and threatened to take his children into custody.
“Of course I was worried about the children. I was worried about my wife
and her condition,” Bazhutin told Novaya Gazeta, explaining his wife was
seven months pregnant. “But I was immediately bombarded with text
messages from all over the country. People were willing to help.”
The truckers point to the support they get from working people and
insist they won’t back down in face of government harassment and threats.
A documentary about the 2015 strike won a prize at the Saratov
Sufferings film festival in September. The title — “Chronicles of a
Revolution That Didn’t Happen” — refers to the news blackout on the
truckers’ fight and the government’s refusal to meet with them.
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