Official Visit to Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic on 20 to 23 August 2002 by Mrs. Pauline Barrett-Reid, Director ILO Moscow Office and Mrs. Olga Mzhavanadze, Programme Assistant
The visit had two objectives. First, to meet the President and Prime Minister in order to learn about and discuss the local and economic development reforms that have taken place in the Republic and possible future collaboration. Second, to meet and have discussions with entrepreneurs who have been engaged in successfully restructuring their enterprises.
At the meeting with Mr. N. Fedorov, President of the Republic and Mr. P.Krasnov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Social Policy a wide range of issues were discussed with particular emphasis on the framework that has been created at the governmental level to support development across the republic. The President highlighted the improvement in roads and transport, the building of schools and hospitals, and the development of human resources, which is the republic’s biggest asset - all of which have contributed to the regeneration of enterprises. Mrs. Barrett-Reid referred to the new Tripartite Programme of Technical Cooperation with the Russian Federation, future work on WTO and Globalization, and the recent highly successful visit of Mr. Juan Somavia, the Director General of the ILO to the Russian Federation. The President said that he looked forward to future collaboration between the republic and the ILO Moscow Office.
The meeting with the Prime Minister, Mrs. N. Partasova and Mrs. M. Illarionova, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development concentrated on the employment of women, childcare and maternity support and wages. The Prime Minister explained that it had been decided in 1996 that the kindergartens attached to the enterprises would be transferred to the local authorities. This has meant it is still possible to provide low cost good quality childcare, which is essential for women to be able to be effectively employed. She also emphasized the importance placed on good local maternity care and the establishment of a system of family doctors. Unfortunately, the time available for discussion passed very quickly and both Mrs. Barrett-Reid and the Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development expressed the hope that they would be able to meet again in the near future.
The Director of the ILO Moscow Office was invited to address the Tripartite Commission. Her presentation concentrated on Decent Work. She explained that Decent Work can be achieved by the integration of International Labour Standards, Employment, Social Protection and Social Dialogue together with the cross cutting issues of HIV/AIDS and Gender. The new Tripartite Programme of Technical Cooperation between the ILO and the Russian Federation is designed to address the Decent Work Agenda. It builds on previous support and collaboration, for example on the new Labour Code. She mentioned the interesting collaboration that has taken place in the republic with the ILO on socially responsible restructuring of enterprises – the “Zeim” experience and the work that is taking place on the development of social indicators using computer mapping. Similar issues were touched on at a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce.
The visits to the “Zeim” and its daughter companies and to the Cotton Company “Pike” proved to be a very rich and interesting experience. Mr. Liapunov gave a presentation on the process of restructuring that had taken place since 1991 and is ongoing. It was also possible to visit the daughter companies “Zeim – Line”, “Sitall Olimp”, “Forest” and to see the changes that had taken place. The key points raised in discussions were: the need for a supportive framework at the presidential and government level, the need to produce a consistently high quality product, to plan for reinvestment and diversification, to engage the work force and trade unions in planning and decisions, to provide training and improvement in working condition such as pay, holidays etc as the company became more profitable.
The visit to the Cotton Company “Pike” reaffirmed these messages. The Deputy General Director Mrs. T. Larina explained that the situation had been extremely difficult for the plant in the early 1990’s and it became clear that to be able to survive and grow it was necessary to keep the best of the past and to take the best of the changes. This had entailed taking risks such as the diversification into clothing manufacture but these new activities were proving to be highly successful. The work force is almost entirely female and has almost 100 percent trade union membership.
The ILO Moscow Office would like to thank all those individuals who made their time avaible for such important and useful discussions.
At the meeting with Mr. N. Fedorov, President of the Republic and Mr. P.Krasnov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Social Policy a wide range of issues were discussed with particular emphasis on the framework that has been created at the governmental level to support development across the republic. The President highlighted the improvement in roads and transport, the building of schools and hospitals, and the development of human resources, which is the republic’s biggest asset - all of which have contributed to the regeneration of enterprises. Mrs. Barrett-Reid referred to the new Tripartite Programme of Technical Cooperation with the Russian Federation, future work on WTO and Globalization, and the recent highly successful visit of Mr. Juan Somavia, the Director General of the ILO to the Russian Federation. The President said that he looked forward to future collaboration between the republic and the ILO Moscow Office.
The meeting with the Prime Minister, Mrs. N. Partasova and Mrs. M. Illarionova, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development concentrated on the employment of women, childcare and maternity support and wages. The Prime Minister explained that it had been decided in 1996 that the kindergartens attached to the enterprises would be transferred to the local authorities. This has meant it is still possible to provide low cost good quality childcare, which is essential for women to be able to be effectively employed. She also emphasized the importance placed on good local maternity care and the establishment of a system of family doctors. Unfortunately, the time available for discussion passed very quickly and both Mrs. Barrett-Reid and the Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development expressed the hope that they would be able to meet again in the near future.
The Director of the ILO Moscow Office was invited to address the Tripartite Commission. Her presentation concentrated on Decent Work. She explained that Decent Work can be achieved by the integration of International Labour Standards, Employment, Social Protection and Social Dialogue together with the cross cutting issues of HIV/AIDS and Gender. The new Tripartite Programme of Technical Cooperation between the ILO and the Russian Federation is designed to address the Decent Work Agenda. It builds on previous support and collaboration, for example on the new Labour Code. She mentioned the interesting collaboration that has taken place in the republic with the ILO on socially responsible restructuring of enterprises – the “Zeim” experience and the work that is taking place on the development of social indicators using computer mapping. Similar issues were touched on at a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce.
The visits to the “Zeim” and its daughter companies and to the Cotton Company “Pike” proved to be a very rich and interesting experience. Mr. Liapunov gave a presentation on the process of restructuring that had taken place since 1991 and is ongoing. It was also possible to visit the daughter companies “Zeim – Line”, “Sitall Olimp”, “Forest” and to see the changes that had taken place. The key points raised in discussions were: the need for a supportive framework at the presidential and government level, the need to produce a consistently high quality product, to plan for reinvestment and diversification, to engage the work force and trade unions in planning and decisions, to provide training and improvement in working condition such as pay, holidays etc as the company became more profitable.
The visit to the Cotton Company “Pike” reaffirmed these messages. The Deputy General Director Mrs. T. Larina explained that the situation had been extremely difficult for the plant in the early 1990’s and it became clear that to be able to survive and grow it was necessary to keep the best of the past and to take the best of the changes. This had entailed taking risks such as the diversification into clothing manufacture but these new activities were proving to be highly successful. The work force is almost entirely female and has almost 100 percent trade union membership.
The ILO Moscow Office would like to thank all those individuals who made their time avaible for such important and useful discussions.