Labor Relations in Russia: Moving to a “Market” Social Contract?

Problems of Post-Communism. 2015. Vol. 62. No. 4. P. 193–203.

Kozina I., Vinogradova E., Cook L.

The paper analyzes contemporary labor relations in Russia as constituting a distinctive ‘market social contract.’  Focusing on market and state policy, labor law, and tripartism, we show how the state has been balancing needs for “social stability” and labor market efficiency. To promote “stability” it protects employment security and prohibits collective protest; to promote efficiency it accommodates pressures for labor market flexibility by tolerating informality. Surveys from 2007-2013 provide some evidence about behaviors, strategies, and attitudes of managers, workers and state officials. The state has so far managed labor market tensions, though inefficiently; the current economic crisis demands new policy responses.

Keywords: трудовые отношения, социальное партнерство, профсоюзы, social partnership, labor relations, trade unions, социальный контракт, market social contract