What job protections did employees of Soviet state enterprises have?

Under Soviet law, employees of state enterprises were granted specific protections under the Labour Codes, which included safeguards against arbitrary discipline or discharge. Additionally, outside of the period surrounding World War II, these employees possessed the legal right to change their jobs.1

However, these protections were limited in practice. Workers were represented by party-controlled "pseudounions" rather than independent organizations, and there was no legally recognized right to strike. Furthermore, while employees had the right to change jobs, their mobility was often restricted by residence permit requirements, which made it difficult to relocate to major urban centers for employment. It is important to note that these protections did not extend to all workers; collective-farm peasants and labour-camp inmates were largely excluded from the protections of the labour code and faced significantly more precarious legal positions.1