ST.-PETERSBURG, February 21 - RAPSI. St. Petersburg district court will hold on February 27 the preliminary hearing of the Heineken Joint Breweries' lawsuit to quash the regulator's orders remitting disciplinary punishments to company employees for their participation in the protest rallies.

Heineken Joint Breweries is Heineken's Russian branch.

The brewery's trade unions held a warning one-hour strike on November 10, 2011. On December 15 they held a 24-hour strike. The trade union required cancelling unlimited workday and an accounting period of one year which was illegitimate according to the strikes organizers. The trade unions also protested against the use of contract and agency labor. The plant's management reprimanded the employees who took part in strikes.

Trade union leaders Vitaly Morozova and Sergei Kolegov went on hunger strike on January 12-16. They protested the reprimands. They were sacked in late January.

Heineken Joint Breweries contests the reversal of two disciplinary actions against its workers for taking part in a one-hour warning strike in November and 25 disciplinary actions for participation in the December strike, according to the State Labor Inspectorate's representative.

The inspectorate plans to complete a compliance check of the trade unionists' discharge and issue a relevant order to the employer.