Workers Can Come out to Streets

Workers of Minsk Ball-Bearing Works sent a group letter to the President’s Administration and the State Control Committee asking to check the works and expressing their readiness to street actions for defending their rights.

In their appeal the workers also express their concern about the financial and economic state of the enterprise and blame their authorities of unprofessional management and irrational resources spending. Thus, the letter runs that the directorate of the works bought the E-class car, installed the new equipment at the works exit and bought the new uniform for the enterprise security men though buildings of the shops are so warned out that when it rains the workers fix impermeable film over their machine-tools. There are also facts of the management’s reluctance to provide the workers with supplementary production materials, uniform, special shoes, foodstuffs and tools given in the letter. The workers also complain of low wages in comparison with the personal pay raises for the upper management. That was reported to BelaPAN at the works.

The workers of the enterprise claim that if the situation does not improve in the near future they will take protest street actions or block the traffic in one of the streets as it was previously done by workers of the Minsk Motorcycle Manufacture.

It is to be mentioned that the former management of Minsk Ball-Bearing Works was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment. The general manager of the enterprise was sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Minsk Zavadski city court in compliance with Article 424, Part 3 (abuse of power and authorities) and Article 240 ( intentional bankruptcy) of the Criminal Code of Belarus, the marketing director and head of finances –in compliance with Article 424, Part 3 and Article 240 to 6 years in prison and deputy general manager for economic affairs-to 3 years 6 months of restricted freedom in compliance with Article 425, Part 3 (inactivity of the authority). At the end of January 2006 the deputy general manager for ideological work was arrested for bribery.

In 2006-2007 in compliance with the president’s edict the restructuring of the enterprise’s energy payment debts to the republican budget has been underway accompanied by the provided 16.6 billion Belarusian rubles of state budget subsidy.