Worker from Asipovichy: They pay 1.5mn and make us take unpaid leave

Workers of the Plant of Automobile Parts in Asipovichy have more and more days off and don't receive salaries on schedule. Many workers quit the plant.

According to previous reports, the Plant of Automobile Parts in Asipovichy was idle for half of last week. The plant's representatives still decline to give comments to charter97.org, but workers are ready to share details.

“All Fridays were declared unpaid days off in March. Thursday of March 5 and Monday of March 9 were declared official days off with the payment of two-thirds of the salary. March 30 and 31 are likely to be days off, too. We have the order for April, saying to take four unpaid days off. We also had additional days off in the second part of each month since the middle of 2014,” a reader writes.

According to him, it got worse at the beginning of 2015.

“We worked 12 days in January. Most workers received a salary of 1.5-3 million rubles in January. We have begun to receive wages in two equal parts from the 15th to the 18th and from the 23d to the 25th day of a month. In December, January and February, the first part of wages was delayed, which had never happened before. On March 18, they didn't pay the first part of wages and gave no explanations. They paid it only on March 20. They are supposed pay the second part today, but I am not sure they will. The latest increase in wages by several percents was three years ago,” he writes.

The reader reports that problems at the plant in Asipovichy are caused by problems at the Minsk Automobile Plant.

“Most our products are for the Minsk Automobile Plant, so the production plan drastically decreased at our plant. The plant takes loans from a bank to pay wages, but it seems in the recent months that banks are not happy to issue loans. People quit the plant in droves. It doesn't have glowing prospects or any prospects at all,” he thinks.

Many companies work short weeks or force workers to take unpaid leaves. In the first days of March, charter97.org received complaints from Gomselmash, the Automobile Units Plant in Asipovichy, the Concrete Products Plant in Svetlahorsk, the Tractor Parts and Units Plant in Babruisk, Mogilevtransmash, Strommashina, the Minsk Tractor Plant, Gomeldrev, the Minsk Bearing Plant, Belarusian Railway, Vitebsk Products company and others.