Word: pikalyovo
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...right. Pikalyovo is one of hundreds of cities across Russia whose populations are supported by just one factory or one industry. If that factory or industry is wiped out by the global economic downturn - as Pikalyovo's was when the price of cement dropped and Deripaska's company Basic Element put half its workforce on forced leave - the whole town is sent into a tailspin. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...Russia's unemployment figure passes 7.7 million, or 10.2% of the economically active population, residents of small towns all over the country are struggling and looking for solutions. In Pikalyovo, they may have found one. "By blocking the road we've set a precedent," says clay-quarry worker Markov. "It was an effective action, and the police did not arrest us or beat us. We are not afraid of the authorities anymore, and we will do it again...
...Others are taking note. Last week, Gavrilova's cousin called from the Siberian city of Irkutsk to ask if Pikalyovo was "leading a civil war" and to say that the situation was similar in her city, where workers were holding a hunger strike over unpaid wages at the local pulp mill, also owned by Basic Element. This time it took no prodding from Putin for Deripaska to announce plans to pay out some $2.8 million in back wages to about 2,000 workers. (See pictures of Russia celebrating Victory...
...According to the daily Nezavisamaya Gazeta, the protest in Pikalyovo has also prompted Putin to announce the creation of "crisis teams" made up of members of his majority United Russia Party to monitor joblessness in every region. On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev launched a set of meetings aimed at preventing further protests such as those carried out in Pikalyovo and later said he will sack regional employers who fail to tackle unemployment themselves and instead pass the responsibility on to Moscow...
...Whether these new measures will work remains to be seen. For now, Pikalyovo's union leaders have shown how effective community action can be, and as people across Russia lose patience with what many see as the government's mishandling of the financial crisis, it's likely the fires of protest will spread...