12 workers on hunger strike at plant in Babrujsk

At the tractor parts and aggregates plant the three-day warning hunger strike continues.

Mikhail Kavalkou, the chairman of the primary unit of the Association of Trade Unions of Belarus, is on hunger strike at the enterprise’s control post.

He spends night here too – in a car.

- Today is the third day of the hunger strike, so far my health condition is normal, - Mikhail Kavalkou said. – On the first night it was cold in the car, yesterday people brought me a warm blanket, I try to drink lots of water.

The chairman of the plant’s trade union says that today the total number of the people on hunger strike has grown, there are already 12 of them, the human rights center Viasna reports.

- From the first day trade union activists Siarhiej Pichuhau, Iryna Korshunova, Hienadz Labanau, Aksana Kiernazhytskaja have been on hunger strike at their working places together with me. They were all summoned to the management, asked whether it was true that they were on hunger strike. Yesterday Viktar Vosipau and Aliaksandr Bianasik have joined. Also two trade union members joined, with whom contracts have not been prolonged – Vital Sadouski and Aliaksandr Mikitka. Three more people have gone on hunger strike today: Aliaksandr Varonkin, Aliaksandr Hramyka and Mikalaj Zhybul, - Kavalkou says.

Mikhail Kavalkou said that the administration of the enterprise had not yet made any steps to meet the workers halfway and did not react to the hunger strike.

- I came to know that they already phoned to the plant’s ideology department from the Ministry of Industry, they are very unhappy about what is going on at the enterprise. Nevertheless, they are not offering us a dialogue yet, - Mikhail Kavalkou pointed out.

We would remind that the reason for the hunger strike of the Babrujsk plant’s workers was the discrimination of the Free Trade Union. As early as in January Mikhail Kavalkou demanded that the administration stopped persecuting the activists and started negotiations with the trade union’s primary organization in order to develop and sign a collective agreement. The plant’s administration responded with the readiness to start negotiations, but then demanded that the Free Trade Union’s primary organization was re-registered due to the reorganization of the enterprise’s property type. According to Kavalkou, at the same time the plant’s administration refused to provide the trade union organization premises for a legal address.