MOSCOW, August 13, 2009. Russian Public Opinion research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning participation of Russians in strikes, the results of such measures people took, as well as their opinion regarding more effective approaches to strikes and who according to popular view is usually organizing such actions. 

Majority of Russians (77%) consider that workers in their country do not abuse their right for a strike. However, every tenth respondent agrees that workers abuse the right to strike. Most of them are residents of the Volga District (18% of respondents residing in the Volga Federal District versus 6-15% of those in other districts).

Every fifth Russian (21%) considers it to be unnecessary to support strikers. Those respondents who are confident such actions are necessary think that the most effective ways to support strikers are meetings and gathering signatures (24% and 25% respectively). Gathering money and products for participants of protest actions and members of their families, as well as solidarity strikes, are marked effective by 12% of Russians (for each).

Remarkably, those who do not think it is necessary to support strikers are mainly Muscovites and St.Petersburgians (32%), as well as respondents residing in localities of less than 50 thousand of inhabitants (56%).

An overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens did not participate personally in strikes (92% of respondents said so). Only 6% of respondents mentioned that they took part in protest actions before 2000; 3% marked that they took part in such actions after 2000. Russians who participated in strikes are more in the Volga (10%) and the Southern Federal Districts (13%) than in other federal districts of Russia (3-8%).

More than one-quarter of Russians (29%) who were participants of protest actions managed to achieve their goals and neither this damaged their relationships with the management of their companies nor with their colleagues. However, every forth Russian say that it was all in vain, but the actions did not have negative impact on the relationship with colleagues and management of the company. Twenty-one percent of Russians pointed out that they achieved their goals, but the relationships with colleagues and management worsened; 18% complained that their actions had negative impact on the relationships within their companies.

Russians think that those who organize strikes are mainly desperate workers pushed to the brink of survival: about half of respondents have such opinion (46%). One third of respondents (33%) think that the typical leaders are workers` activists who are not ready to tolerate injustice, and abuse of their rights; 22% of Russians point out trade unions. Russians rarer mention organizations trying to attract attention at the expense of protest actions (parties and so on) (9% of respondents), or lazy workers ready to do anything except from their work (7%). Six percent of Russians think that there are no organizers of strikes at all, and strikes are spontaneous.

It was found out that respondents with high level of financial self-assessment (29%) more often than respondents with lower financial self-assessment (20-22%) consider that the organizers of strikes are trade unions. And vice versa, Russians with low level of income often name desperate workers pushed to the brink of survival (50% of respondents with poor and 38% with good financial self-assessment).

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on July 18-19, 2009. 

1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia.

The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM,

the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!