ABSTRACT
Russian trade unions are no longer "transmission belts" of the state, which was the way Vladimir Lenin had characterized their role in the Soviet Union. During reform they have become independent organizations and gained legal rights to organize, bargain collectively, and strike. The central argument of this chapter is that unions, for the most part, line up with management to pressure the state. It is heavily weighted toward the old industrial sectors, where both managers' organizations and unions are concentrated, and even here there are divergent positions on these issues. Communist-era unions formed the subordinate part of a party-management-union troika in enterprises. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR), the Russian successor to the Soviet-era state union organization, has used its inherited resources to secure the dominant position as labor's representative throughout the Russian Federation. From the outset of reform the FNPR leadership has made its strongest alliances with managerial organizations in national politics.
