2,000 workers want to leave BMP

Workers wait for the first day of the new year to quit the plant.

They haven't received bonuses for nine months and their salaries remain on the level of 2012. Warehouses of the Belarusian Metallurgical Plant (BMP) are filled with finished products that no one wants to buy. It is reported that 1.2 trillion rubles for the harvest festival were obtained both from the regional budget and pockets of ordinary workers of the country's main metallurgical plant. Different sources say from 2,000 to 3,000 resignation letters were submitted to the personnel department, camarade.biz reports.

The state-owned media and the plant's press service report about soaring successes of the enterprise.

Workers describe the situation in a different way.

“I have been working at BMP for almost 10 years. Even during the crisis, after the 300% devaluation, we survived because wages were increased a little. I wanted to transfer to another shop this summer to improve my skill grade and have higher wages, but the manager said no one could be transfered anywhere. My co-workers and I wrote resignation letters in order to go to Russia and earn some money for our families. We were told that under employment agreements, we must work till the end of the year. Hundreds of people are waiting for January 1 to quit,” worker Uladzimir says.

He says even steelmakers, who have always had good salaries, receive only 6-8 million rubles now, which is too little for hazardous working conditions.

Taking into account the current situation, apparently after the plant received money to its empty account, workers were paid bonuses for the first time in the last few months.

“They gave 500,000 rubles this month. But is it money?” Aliaksei, a BMP worker, says.

Financial problems of workers affected the consumer market in Zhlobin. Small businessmen complain about low sales during the year.

“People buy only the most necessary things,” market vendor Liudmila says. “For example, clothes and footwear for autumn and winter. Many sellers allow to pay for Polish and Turkish goods by installments.”

Plant workers were offered to buy goods at the fair during the harvest festival, while market vendors were ordered not to work on Friday and Saturday. However, some sellers continued to work as usual.