Court hearing postponed again (265 words)

Published: 10/23/2000

It appears that the trade unions at Aeroflot, who have taken a low profile after some vitriolic attacks on the management earlier this year, may be rising again. Sergey Plevako, one of the airline's trade union leaders reports that the unions are continuing to go through the courts to overturn the decision made by the airline's board not to consider the replacement of General Director Valery Okulov until the expiration of his contract in May 2002. In their capacity as a shareholder with 2.4% of the carrier, the unions asked for Okulov to be replaced and for the removal motion to be added to the agenda of the AGM in June. The motion that was turned down by the board on the basis that Okulov still has two years of his term to run, and can only be terminated for poor performance, which the board did not judge him guilty of. The unions however, did not take the response well and complained to the regional court, the hearings however, have been postponed on several occasions the latest being the 19th October. When they were delayed until the 8th December 2000, after the court said they required further documents. The reasons for Plevako's attacks on the management have largely been put down to the sweeping changes the management is attempting to introduce at the airline and the impact they will have on their union's members. The action has therefore been interpreted as a means of diluting the impact as much as possible. Given their limited negotiating strength this is probably as good a tactic as any, although it is unlikely to bring any major change in tack for the airline.

Article ID: 2145