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MTZ Welder: Workers Talk About Revolution During Breaks

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MTZ Welder: Workers Talk About Revolution During Breaks
PHOTO: TUT.BY

Those who are older remember the strikes of the early 1990s.

Public activist and former MTZ worker Artsiom Charniak reported that to the press service of the Belarusian National Congress. According to him, it is almost impossible to find a job in the specialty today.

– Not so long ago you were fired from MTZ. Did you manage to find a new job? Is it difficult?

– I have succeeded, but with a great difficulty and not in Minsk. Everything shows that Belarus is now experiencing the largest socio-economic crisis for all time. It is not clear how the authorities will get out of it. It is almost impossible to find a job in the specialty, especially outside of Minsk. The salaries are not normal, too. A few years ago, they were $ 400 a month at the factories and construction sites. Now it's good if the salary is at least 150.

Yes, I worked at the Minsk Tractor Plant as a welder of the 4th grade for a long time. The salary in recent months (in July I was fired) was not more than $ 150. As my colleagues said, their incomes were cut almost twofold. That was due to the fact that our tractors simply hadn’t been bought. We are losing even traditional markets. So it turns out that in order to get at least 500 rubles per month, it was necessary for a worker to work more than 10 hours overtune every week and to come to work on Saturdays.

The main problem is that the authorities do not allow people to earn money. They need a humiliated, poor and ragged slave, whom they can easily command. I think this is the main task of Decree No. 3 and the contract system hated by all normal people: to get everyone to work for a penny.

With the current authorities in Belarus, only those who sit at the feeding trough can earn normal money. Officials spit down on ordinary people

– You said that the salary of your former colleagues – MTZ workers – fell by half. What do they say about their prospects?

– They say that the country is in a mess, they always criticise the authorities during breaks - and they don't care to choose expressions. There are also those who openly argue that revolutionary changes are necessary, that people must take to the streets. Some senior comrades recall the strikes of the early 90's. People talk about it quietly, but regularly.

– And what do you think about it?

– I think the same. If we remain silent, the authorities will go on treating us like cattle. It is necessary to take to the streets, we should show an example of how to struggle to those who are still talking about changes in their kitchens and smoking rooms. We must fight for a decent life. It is necessary to put pressure on the authorities. We managed to achieve concessions in the spring. I hope that the Outraged Belarusians March 2.0 will help move forward in this direction.

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