Court deprives trade union activist of bonus payments to pension

The Leninski District Court of Brest dismissed the claim of a former worker of the JSC «Savushkin Product» Uladzimir Andrashchuk. He went to court to make the enterprise management pay him 15 million rubles, which are to be paid under the collective agreement at retirement. The direct boss of Mr. Andrashchuk was to have applied to the Director General of JSC "Savushkin product" and the latter was to decide whether to pay this sum.

His immediate boss, however, decided not to apply, believing that Andrashchuk had no relation to the collective agreement, as he wasn't a member of the state trade union. However, Uladzimir Andrashchuk has a 39-year-long good service record at the enterprise.

The court dismissed the claim referring to the fact that Andrashchuk's boss didn't apply for the payment for his subordinate, as required by the collective agreement. On the other hand, the court confessed that the worker was a party to the collective agreement, as far as under Article 365, part 2 of the Labor Code, if a worker who is not a party to the collective agreement files an application for joining the collective agreement, he becomes its party.

According to the legal inspector of the Independent Trade Union of Radio-Electronic Industry Uladzimir Malei, Uladzimir Andrashchuk's case showed that the state trade union sides with the management of the enterprise and has surrended to the latter all powers in resolving of workers' issues. Secondly, the workers are largely unaware of the collective agreement and do not discuss it at a general meeting. It can be say they are somewhat indifferent to their problems and don't demand that the collective agreement be hanged in a public place.