“Modernization” at expense of serfdom

Workers get paid 100-150 USD at Barysaudreu and cannot quit the enterprise.

Account documents, sent to the editorial office of the local barysau.by web-site, show the level of salaries at the flagman enterprise of the domestic timber processing industry.

Not only does it not reach the country’s average, but is simply miserable. For example, a crew chief with great experience earned only 1 million 411 thousand roubles in November.

The account document shows that the employee worked at lumbering and sawing production. In November be had standing idles. In the month he worked 20 days or 159 hours.

His colleague, whose account document also got to journalists, received a bit more – 1 million 763 thousand, another one – only 917 thousand.

The workers, unhappy with the salaries, cannot quit Barysaudreu because of the notorious serfdom decree of Lukashenka’s. According to the document, an employee cannot leave a timber processing enterprise without the permission of the chief. The refusal of an employer to cancel the concract may be appealed against to the chairman of the region’s executive committee. Due to that the workers of the said enterprises are entitled to monthly payments apart from the salaries provided by the contracts. The enterprises decide on the amounts independently based in their financial possibilities. In case employees do not follow their responsibilities and get fired, the amount of the monthly payments received in the time of working is to be returned.

We would remind that on 8 November the enterprise was visited by Lukashenka. The ruler was very unhappy with the results of the “modernization” and mismanagement at Barysaudreu. As a result he fired the deputy head of his administration Andrej Tur, the chairman of Minsk region’s executive committee Barys Batura and the head of the Bellesbumprom concern Aliaksandr Pieraslaucau. The officials were threatened with criminal charges.

After the ruler’s visit the enterprise announced days of unpaid labour which all the plant’s employees were obliged to participle in. Even school children and vocational college students were engaged. The administration advised to forget about quitting until July, the new deadline, when another inspection for modernization is expected at Barysaudreu.