Actions in support of the arrested leader of the independent trade union Anatoly Bannykh

The chairman of the primary trade union of workers of the Ural Automobile Plant joint-stock company was detained by police at his workplace on November 15 in the city of Miass, Chelyabinsk Region.

Anatoly Bannykh

The detention is directly related to the strike announced for November 18 by workers of the vehicle testing and modification section of the Main Conveyor shop in the platform assembly brigade. A notice to stop work for two hours from 7.30 to 9.30 was sent to the administration of the enterprise on November 13.

The workers’ divisions were forced to go on strike due to the refusal of the enterprise administration to take into account the opinion of the trade union when drafting a new Collective Agreement for 2025–27. The trade union demanded that a motivational bonus of 16,050 rubles be included in the basic part of the salary. As can be understood from the letter of the trade union committee, such a decision was made for workers of other divisions.

On October 21, the trade union sent the administration a demand to create a conciliation commission to consider the demands put forward. The administration refused, citing the fact that an independent trade union cannot count on representing the interests of the enterprise’s workers, since it does not include more than half of all workers (the plant has 6,810 people).

On the eve of the arrest, on November 14, a meeting was held between Anatoly Bannykh, supported by several workers from the brigade, and representatives of the administration, including the deputy general director of the enterprise, A. Meshchev, «in order to prevent illegal actions.” This meeting ended in nothing. After it, police officers warned Anatoly about the inadmissibility of violating Federal Law No. 54 on rallies. Other workers from the brigade were summoned to the «official» trade union committee, where they were warned about administrative liability for participating in unauthorized public events.

It remains unclear why the police officers considered the declared two-hour strike at their workplace a mass public event. But here, judging by everything, the police «creatively» worked together with the plant administration.

On 24 November, actions in support of Anatoly Bannykh, Chairman of the independent trade union of the Urals Automotive Plant, were held in several regions of Russia.

In Miass, where dramatic events took place, Bannykh’s defence counsel in court Valentina Komkova held a solitary picket, which was accompanied by a dozen policemen and Russian Guards.
In Chelyabinsk, our comrade held a solitary picket on Komsomolskaya Square.
In Novosibirsk, activists and supporters of the local organisation of the RCP(i) marked their position with two pickets, separated by time, so that the actions would not be assessed by the police as a single mass picket (such a thing is now possible in the ‘freest’ country in the world) — on the central Lenin Square and on Kalinin Square, where prepared booklets were handed out within an hour.
In Ekaterinburg, representatives of the Left Opposition Platform and the RCP(i) held an anonymous solidarity action.
On 25 November, an RCP(i) supporter in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky went on a solitary picket. After a while, a policeman approached our comrade and asked him to go to the police station to make an explanatory statement. There’s no any complaints and, hopefully, no consequences. Also, our comrades distributed leaflets of solidarity among the citizens. Ilya Bykov, spokesman of the local branch of the CPRF noted the actions and even got into an argument with the opponents of the actions in the city-wide public forum. So the story of the provocation against the leader of the workers’ trade union is becoming a topic for discussion thousands of kilometers away from Miass.
Another action of solidarity with Anatoly Bannykh took place on 20 November in Kemerovo. It was organised by Kirill Eliseenko, a local activist of the Socialist Platform. In Kemerovo, where notorious ‘covid’ bans on protest activities, including solitary pickets, are still there, the action had consequences. It is reported that he faces a maximum fine under 30,000 roubles, as well as some trouble at his place of study.
On 28 November, the Chelyabinsk Regional Court considered complaint made by Valentina Komkova against the decision of the Miass City Court of 16 November 2024 on the administrative offence under article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (displaying symbols of an extremist organization).

NO TO LABOUR UNION DISCRIMINATION!
STRIKE IS NOT EXTREMIST!
FREEDOM TO ANATOLY BANNYKH!