Horizont plant to work four-day week

Salaries will be cut for workers of Belarus's biggest electronics manufacturer.

It follows from the order of Aliaksandr Arlou, the director of Horizont plant. According to the copy of the order obtained by charter97.org, Fridays will be days off for three months starting January till the end of March 2014. Workers will receive salaries in accordance with the actual hours worked.

“It is hereby ordered that all workers of structural units of Horizont plant, except for those ensuring vital activity and safety of the enterprise, shall work short weeks with an additional day off on Friday starting January 8, 2014, till March 31, 2014.

Head of the personnel department Y. Karovina shall conclude agreements with employees on working short weeks by December 1, 2013. Workers shall be informed about consequences of the refusal to work in accordance with the proposed schedule.

Workers working short weeks shall receive salaries for the actual hours worked with the time payment system or for the actual performance with the piecework system,” the order says.

The order doesn't inform what may happen if workers refuse to work under the proposed schedule.

“The order to make workers work short weeks is illegal. It violates article 32 of the Labour Code of Belarus. Any lawyer can confirm it,” a reader of charter97.org writes.

The plant faced similar problems in the first half of this year. Workers said more than 100 people were dismissed, and the plant didn't work regularly. Some shops, in particular the television assembly shop, worked a four-day week in early March. Fridays were declared days off. Four working days were moved to autumn.