Sverdlovsk Region Federation of Trade Unions won the case regarding the claim laid against METRO Cash & Carry’s Yekaterinburg subsidiary. The defendant was accused of non-compliance with the labor law, and the court ruled that the plaintiff was right and that the notion of ‘minimal guarantees’ for harmful labor conditions did not depend on the degree of harmfulness, the spokesperson for the Federation reports.

‘When Sverdlovsk Region Federation of Trade Unions carried out an all-round inspection of the company’s labor law compliance practices, METRO turned out to violate governmental provision No. 870 adopted in December 2008. The provision stated that people working in harmful labor conditions had to have at least 4% wage compensation, a thirty-six-hour working week, and extra seven days of vacation. We believe this applies to any degree of harmfulness,’ says the Federation’s chief technical inspector Restam Bikmetov.

To protect the company’s trade union members, the Federation took the case to court. The employer refused to admit the violations and claimed the governmental provision was not in full force as the necessary by-laws regarding the ‘lists of harmful conditions’ had not yet been adopted.

The court supported the trade unions and ruled that this minimum compensation package did not depend on the degree of harmfulness and anyone working in harmful labor conditions was entitled to this minimum package of the 4% wage compensation and a thirty-six-hour working week, at least.

With this decision at hand, the trade union can now insist on overtime payments for workers who had the right for a shorter working week but worked the usual forty hours.