Trade union activist sacked for giving interview

The capital construction department of the Mahilou city executive committee does not want to continue labour relations with electrician Mikalai Rasyuk, a member of the Free Belarusian Trade Union.

An official reason is expiring a labour contract. The activist works his last four days, Radio Svaboda reports.

“You know well what is happening in the construction sector now. I am a person who cannot remain silent. I gave an interview about the state of the construction industry. It influenced a decision to sack me. They know me well. They do not need such a person. I has recently been transferred to another job. The organization 'Investsystem' was disbanded and the capital construction department was obliged to pay its debts. I had worked there for five months. I am jobless now. I am going to undergo treatment. New bosses perhaps knew about my health, but they could have offered another job to me,” Rasyuk said.

The capital construction department explains the dismissal of Rasyuk with a necessity.

“The organization, where Rasyuk worked, was annexed to our organization on decision of the Mahilou city executive committee. We hired all people from there. We do not have work for them. All of them will work till the end of their contracts and quit. We cannot dismiss them earlier than their contracts expire. There are no other reasons for dismissals. We need only one electrician. We perform a function of a ordering customer, not a constructor. It just happened. It's not my decision,” a representative of the administration of the capital construction department comments on the situation.

Mikalai Rasyuk will reach the retirement age in three years. Being a Chernobyl disaster liquidator, he made several attempts to speak on behalf of opposition organizations at an official rally on occasion of the Chernobyl accident, but the city authorities did not give him the floor.