Unless you are a very conscientious buyer or just extremely curious, it may have escaped your notice that a lot of retail clothing is being made in Russia. Although we mostly hear about sweatshops in Asia, these latest additions to slave labor have arrived to Russia like Lipetsk, Voronezh and Belgorod.

One such factory is the Lipchanka Closed Joint Stock Company, located in the city of Lipetsk. Last year Lipchanka workers produced 230,000 men's pants for the German market, and 215,000 women's suits for the US and 50,000 for England. Clothing from this factory is being produced for the Netherlands and, depending on the outcome of negotiations, perhaps for a Swedish client as well. Besides these immediate clients, however, Lipchanka's goods are distributed under various brand names worldwide.

The situation at Lipchanka is typical for Russia today. The management has run into debt arrears of 2-3 months on the wages of its 1,000 employees, mostly women. Paid holidays, despite labor laws to the contrary, are practically unknown.

This situation is further aggravated by low wages. The average worker receives from 800 to 1500 rubles per month (about $25-48). The highest wages are 2-3,000 rubles.

In spring 2001, the Russian Minister for Light Industry visited the Lipchanka factory. Afterwards, in a local television interview, the Minister stated that the factory was operating well and that salaries were being paid regularly. In response, the husband of one of the factory workers phoned the TV station and told the Minister that his wife had not been paid for three months. The Minister responded by accusing the caller's wife of being a liar. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the general director of Lipchanka, Vladimir Torshin, an award "For Merits to the Fatherland."

Lipchanka's esteemed foreign clients include companies like "Steilmann" (Germany) and Harve Bernard Ltd. (USA). The latter company has enjoyed a "healthy" relationship with Lipchanka for more than a year, with high production demands. Despite the fact that the women employees at Lipchanka produce high-quality products, Mr. Torshin is apparently not been pleased with their work as they are paid mere kopecks.

Salaries at Lipchanka are essentially based on piece work. Quotas are constantly raised, and the rates for completed work are constantly reduced. Company management has been apt to provide perfectly logical pretexts for these reductions. For example, clothing at Lipchanka is finished with a regular iron. As a result, the clothing may acquire a shiny appearance in areas. The products are then sent to the foreign client, where an automatic steam iron is used, which removes those shiny areas. Regardless, Lipchanka management claims that such articles were "spoiled" and, therefore, the rates were reduced accordingly. Despite this "spoilage," Lipchanka's foreign clients continue to place orders as before.

The work schedule at Lipchanka is heavy: under new labor legislation a 58-hour week is now permissible. In addition to other draconian measures that have been introduced by the new labor law, the right to strike has been practically abolished. Often workers are "urged" to work at nights with no increase in the wage rate (again in contradiction to old labor law). In light of the need for a job, workers generally agree to night work nonetheless.

The non-human equipment at Lipchanka is also largely worn out. Despite this the director has stated that there is no money for new equipment. According to Mr. Torshin, he is a rather poor man, who receives a paltry monthly salary of 8000 rubles, which is also in arrears. It is unclear, then, how he managed to build a three-story private residence in the center of Lipetsk--a city where real estate prices are comparable with Moscow. Mr. Torshin retorted that his residence was built with his own blood. Probably, it's with the same blood that he went on holiday at the end of September after having failed to pay workers their July salary.

This time he didn't have the opportunity to bask in the southern sun, as he was urgently called back from his holiday. On October 2, a strike broke out at Lipchanka.

The immediate reason for the strike was the general director's failure to keep his promise to pay back wages. In September, Torshin had signed an agreement to pay off the wage debts for July. The deadline for payment was set for September 30, which came and passed without any wages being paid. Upon discovery that their director had gone on holiday to the Black Sea, the women seamstresses became indignant at having been lied to yet once again.

Thus, on October 2, the morning shift of 200 working women arrived as usual at 7 AM, but this time they refused to enter the shop and work until their July salaries were paid. The strike was headed by work-team leader Zinaida Shmeleva, chairman of the local committee of the alternative trade union Dyelo. Although only 160 employees at Lipchanka are members of Dyelo, the union was able to initiate and lead the strike.

At the same time, the chairman of the local committee of the "official" Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FNPR), Valentine Korableva, did not undertake any actions to assure the employees that they would get their salaries. When the women refused to get up and start work, she walked among them saying that this was "some kind of circus."

Management was again quick in offering a "viable" excuse for the unpaid wages. The delay, they stated, was not their fault, but that of one of their clients, the German firm Steilmann. The money had been sent, but for some ludicrous reasons had been sent back.

By evening, the second shift joined the strike en masse and the strike continued for the next two days. On October 4, the administration's nerves gave out. Money was unexpectedly found and payment of July wages began. Production resumed only the following day.

This is a familiar story not only in Russia, but in many underdeveloped nations and even sections of the US. Protests against Gap, Nike, and other retailers for the use of gross wage slavery have made the issue pertinent. The western consumer is confronted with the moral dilemma of just what products can be purchased. The ubiquitous "MADE IN ****" hardly ever divulges true points of origin of any product. The component parts of most any item today have been prepared all over the world. Nowhere does Lipchanka imprint its factory name on the clothing it makes--only the brand name of the seller is imprinted. But the point is not what we should or shouldn't buy, but how to change the system that brings goods produced under such conditions to the counter.

Much of the material herein is based on an article by Sergei Chekrygin, which may be found at http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html.