More than 1,500 dockers at the Tuapse oil loading port on the Black Sea have gone on indefinite strike over pay.

They're demanding that their salaries be index linked on a monthly basis. Currently their wages are reviewed once a year.

It's expected they'll be joined by their counterparts at the St Petersburg port on November 13.

Both ports are controlled by Vladimir Lisin, owner of metals giant N.L.M.K.

Trade Union leaders are stressing that the workers are not after a salary increase.

“We've asked the administration to look at the situation and to reschedule the payments. We don't want the payments decided at the end of the year  because we go shopping every day and we have to pay for the education of our kids, for medical care and for our apartments every month. And we all know how fast these costs are growing. We simply lack cash on a monthly basis,” stated Soferbiy Shkhalakhov, Trade Union Chairman of Tuapse sea port.