ABSTRACT
The recent restructuring of the Russian coal industry will serve as a paradigm of radical reform that may shed light on the possible consequences of similar transitions in other sectors of the economy, affecting other segments of Russia's working class. Today's real commonality of interests slows the transformation of Russian official trade unions into truly independent working-class organizations. The actual numerical decline of the working class—particularly that in industry—might well be lower, if one takes into account the Ukrainian and Byelorussian "guest workers" massively employed in Russian construction and transportation industries. Unemployment, both as a threat and as an everyday reality, has had a major impact on labor relations in Russia. The ongoing privatization initially affected the restructuring of the labor market in a contradictory fashion, simultaneously providing incentives to lay off superfluous labor and promoting the substitution of wage reduction for unemployment.
