Workers continue to rebel

50 workers at the Orsha branch of Elektroseti company left the official trade union.

Two weeks ago, workers received pay-sheets for January 2011 and did not find bonuses for harmful working conditions there. Each worker was not paid about 100,000 rubles, Viasna human rights centre writes.

“After we saw that we did not receive money for harmful conditions for unknown reasons, we demanded the planning department chief and the trade union head to explain to us the grounds. We invited them to a meeting hall,” Yury, a driver, says. “The next day, about 50 people who used to receive harmful conditions bonuses (they are drivers, mechanics, lather operators, motor mechanics and others) gathered in the meeting hall to hear explanations why money was not paid to them. The managers said no one would talk to workers and offered to go to work, but employees did not obey. They had been waiting for representatives of the administration for about an hour. During this time, we made a collective application for leaving the state trade union. All of people present signed it. Someone told the executives people began to leave the trade union and trade union head Alyaksandr Ivanov, planning department chief Aleshyn, the chief accountant, the deputy director and labour protection department head Salyanik appeared,” Yury goes on.

“They told us they had a regulation ordering not to pay bonuses to us. They did not say the reason and refused to show the regulation. They said they did not have enough competence to answer most of questions. They wanted to delay the meeting for a week. Asked why bonuses were cancelled only to the company branch in Orsha, not to the branches in Vitsebsk, Polatsk and other towns, they answered it was a kind of experiment and the Orsha branch was the first,” the driver said.