World : Soviets Consider Allowing Strikes

Soviet trade unions, long closely controlled by Communist authorities, will be given the right to strike under a draft law to be adopted in the next few months, union leader Stepan Shalayev said today.

The draft law, which sets out a broad range of powers for unions, follows sporadic reports from across the country of wildcat strikes by miners, bus drivers and carpet weavers demanding better pay and conditions.

“The right (to strike) is being considered as a means to press management to speed up the resolution of labor disputes,” Shalayev said in an interview with the trade union daily Trud. “But it is an extreme measure which should be applied only in exceptional cases.” He said work stoppages should “not be considered a normal phenomenon in our society.”