ITF dockers act in solidarity with imprisoned Russian union leader

The Dockers’ Union of Russia (DUR), says Tikhonov has been falsely accused of embezzling money by the managing director at Vostochny Port, when in fact he is being victimised for legitimate union activity.

The DUR has been under growing pressure since June 2012, when it organised a dockers’ rally against the loss of bonuses for working in hazardous conditions, vacations and other social guarantees.

A solidarity campaign this week sees dockers calling on Russian president Vladimir Putin to intervene to secure the release of Tikhonov and includes messages of support being sent to Tikhonov and the DUR.

DUR president Vasiliy Kozarenko said: “This is an injustice against Leonid Tikhonov, against dockers in Russia and against port workers all over the world. We hope that the solidarity being shown globally is going to have an impact in this situation, showing that dockers are united and won’t stand for this kind of anti-union activity.”

Affiliates are being encouraged to share the campaign information on their own social media channels. Find out more and get involved via the campaign pages.