"The trade union has prepared some 600 suits against the management, each worth from 50,000 ($2,000) to 150,000 ($6,000) rubles," Alexei Etmanov said.
The litigation between the plant management and the trade union began after some 1,000 workers at the factory halted production on November 20, 2007, demanding a 30% pay rise. The strike lasted nearly a month and ended when management agreed with the union to increase wages by up to 21%.
In September 2008, the plant's management filed a $174,000 suit to compensate losses from the strike. A date for the legal proceedings has not yet been set.
Many Russian social observers heralded the Ford strike as the birth of organized union activity in post-Soviet Russia.
Unions in the Soviet Union were mainly concerned with productivity, morale and the organization of workers' annual holidays. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the role of trade unions in society became somewhat vague, and the Ford pickets represent the strongest union action in Russia for many years.
The plant employs some 2,200 people.
