MAZ stops work

The country's biggest enterprise has faced a catastrophic situation.

Charter97.org learnt from a reader, who received information from the plant's workers.

“A friend of mine writes that he transferred from a workshop to the security department, because there's no work. He says the plant stands idle. Managers say workers will receive average salaries until February,” he said.

Stsiapan Paulovich, an activist of the Free Trade Union of Metal Workers, confirmed this information to a charter97.org correspondent and said about the situation on the Belarus's biggest truck manufacturer.

“I can confirm that a part of workers has been receiving the average salary since March, after working days were moved to autumn. But they didn't work these days in autumn. It was done illegally. Only Lukashenka or the Council of Ministers can move working days. The plant management said it was done on the consent of workers. Any MAZ worker could go to work on those days, but 25,000 people didn't appear at work,” the trade union activist says.

Stsiapan Paulovich added the Ministry of Industry reported that MAZ fulfilled only 80% of the yearly plan.

>i<“We have to fulfill 20% of the plan by the end of the year, but we have the bus plant, Kupava and Mogilevtransmash plants to save us. I suppose that we live only due to them. They give us a part of their income. The plant doesn't work on Fridays. The workers who do piece work receive the average wage, the shop repair group receives the average wage too. Workers and members of the Free Trade Union don't have significant drops – they hsve been working fewer hours since March and their salaries fell by from 500,000 to 1,000,000 rubles,” he said.

The Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) worked several four-day weeks this year. The plant stood idle several Fridays in November. The MAZ management fear bankruptcy.

Workers say the plant's warehouses are filled with unsold trucks. The demand for Belarusian trucks is extremely low on the international and Russian markets. The plant cannot afford to buy materials and components for new trucks.

Most MAZ departments didn't work on November 15 and 22. The plant had to stand idle also on November 29 and 30.

The decision to work short weeks was taken by general director Viktar Sasnouski, who explained it with a slump in demand for MAZ's products on the Russian and international market.

Photo from the archive of maz.by