MORE RUSSIANS OUT ON STRIKE.

There were more strikes during the first quarter of 1995 than in all of 1994, the chief of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia told Delovoy mir (no. 21). Mikhail Shmakov said that the Russian government should recognize just how much social tension there is in the country. Incomes have dropped in recent months, with many workers not having been paid for months. At the same time, workers have few options: there are more than six applicants for every job, and most labor unions–including FITUR–are returning to their Soviet-era role of pacifying the workforce rather than fighting for the rights of workers, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions said in a press release June 13.

Russian Government Plans to Simplify Tax System.