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MAZ worker: We've never seen such collapse at plant before

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MAZ worker: We've never seen such collapse at plant before

Workers of MAZ plant will have mandatory “holidays” from march 27 until April 6 due to the absence of work.

Information about the unpaid leave at the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ), one of Belarus's biggest plants, has appeared lately. Charter97.org receives reports from plant employees.

“I didn't hear anything about holidays. We work 8 days a month. I work on a piece-rate basis and earned 130,000 rubles yesterday and 90,000 rubles the day before. The plant assembles 16-18 trucks a day. They say the plant doesn't have engines. Wages are delayed, but we were warned about it. As far as I understand the plant is out of money both to pay wages and buy engines,” Yury writes.

“It's a collapse. MAZ has such huge debts that a Boeing or a Maybach won't be enough to pay off its loans. They don't sack managers but lay off ordinary workers. Besides managers, the plant employs a gang of retired policemen (in addition to security guards) who allegedly 'catch thieves' (workers with a coil of copper wire) and get 10 million rubles a month. How can the plant work?” reader Dzmitry writes.

“I had worked at MAZ from 2005 to 2007 after the graduation from the Automechanical College. It was my first job. I had to work with lowlifes at the service centre and than with idiotic controllers. I quickly understood in what country I live. MAZ is a mirror of our society! Let it die,” Siamion thinks.

Charter97.org journalists talked to MAZ workers and found out that not all of them heard about holidays and that the final decision on mandatory unpaid leave will be taken today.

“I learnt from the accounting department that there's no information about 'holidays'. Perhaps, we won't work next week, but they will pay two-thirds of the salary. The final decision will be taken today at a meeting,” Volha writes.

“People say about two-week holidays, but there's no precise information. We probably won't work from March 27 to April 6, but they will pay two-thirds of the salary. Many work on a piece-rate basis and earn miserable money. No one has quit so far. Many workers were told to take unpaid leave until the end of this week. We don't have work. Production plan was reduced by half. I don't work because we don't have metal. They have begun to draw an increased attention to quality. It is an additional way to cut workers' bonuses for defects. Some work two or three days a week not to lose the job. There are rumours about mass layoffs.

We have a MAZ newspaper. It reports that everything is good and MAZ is flourishing. But the plant is in a deep hole in reality. I talked to people who have been working here for many years. They say they've never seen such a collapse before,” worker Andrei writes.

“Yes, we'll go on holidays from March 27 to April 6. We have five working days officially. We work from Monday to Thursday and have a day off on Friday with the payment of two-thirds of the salary. No one quits. There are different rumours, but people want to keep their jobs. The only thing I noticed is that they don't prolong contracts with pensioners and hire graduates instead of them,” another MAZ worker writes.

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.

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