"This will be a much bigger and tougher strike", said Vladimir Konusenko, president of the Federation of Air-Traffic Controllers Trade Unions, referring to the Aug. 15 strike that shut down at least 40 of the country's airports.
About 100, 000 workers from other unions have also pledged to strike in November as a show of support, said Konusenko, who represents Russia's 8, 000 controllers.
The August walkout aimed to force the government to fulfill a May agreement to raise the salaries of air-traffic controllers whenever the national minimum wage increased, as well as to transfer control of the airways from military to civilian personnel.
According to Konusenko, the strike ended when Vice President Alexander Rutskoi promised not to prosecute strikers and to continue negotiations.
Since then, the government has launched prosecutions against 19 union leaders, who could face up to four years in prison for sabotaging the nation's airways.
Authorities also effectively shut down the Zhukovsky military airfield, outside Moscow, on Oct. 9 by stripping the base's 63 controllers of identification cards needed to enter the closed site, Konusenko said.
The government's retaliatory acts towards the controllers, one of Russia's few democratic unions, are in stark contrast to its conciliatory policy towards last spring's striking state workers.
The air-traffic controller's union leaders say the second strike is essential to protect the rights of the summer strikers.
But one diplomat who specializes in labor issues said government officials may be provoking a second strike so they can clamp down on the union even more -- attempting, this time, to destroy it for good.
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