Is Belaruskali in Fever?

Strange things are happening at one of the major enterprises in the country.

Belaruskali, one of the backbone enterprises of the country, offered its employees to go on unpaid leave. Forced leave will cover 95% of the employees of the industrial giant.

Old-timers of the company note that Belaruskali decides to send employees on unpaid leave for the first time.

Christmas holidays coincided with the data presented at the end of the year about a sharp drop in production and export of potash fertilizers in Belarus. Thus, only in October, the production volume decreased by 27.4%.

What is happening at one of the largest enterprises in the country? Charter97.org talked to the chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Mineworkers Siarhei Cherkasau and economist Leu Marholin.

Siarhei Cherkasau: If there is a grave problem, no leave can help

- Are workers forced into unpaid leave? Employees claim this is true. The administration cites to "New Year's and Christmas holidays" at the request of workers. What is happening?

- First of all, there is labour legislation, and all such actions should correspond to the law. That is, this is when the mandatory consent of a worker is required.

Therefore, the written consent of an employee is obligatory. If someone is sent on leave without consent, let them apply to our trade union. We will deal with it. So far, our independent trade union have not received such applications. There is only general indignation among workers. They mainly spill it out on social media.

- The workers say that this is the first time such a measure has been practised at the enterprise. When there was a conflict with Uralkali, they got 2/3 of the salary. Is the situation so bad now?

- You see, there is a huge difference: a complete stoppage of production when people cannot work, and sending people on leave.

In the story with Uralkali, there was a stoppage of production because there were no sales. Accordingly, they produced to stock.

Now there is no production interruption as such. Therefore, it is not quite clear why workers are offered to go on leave. Belkali management says that these vacations are voluntary. Well, we are watching the situation. If at least one worker sent on leave without his consent applies to us, we will fight. It proves the violation of the law.

I guess a clear light will shed upon the situation when these very holidays begin.

- Workers say the disrupted contracts are covered at their expense. Economic news informs about Belaruskali's overstocked warehouses and 27% reduction in fertilizer production. How would you comment on this?

- As of today, a significant decline in production is observed. There is also a drop in sales.

But I do not understand how can it be solved by sending people on unpaid leave? If the problem is serious, it will not help to save the company.

I think that this question should be addressed to the top managers of the company.

Leu Marholin: This will affect not only Belaruskali but the whole industry

- Potassium together with petroleum products provides the major part of foreign currency revenues. What can the problems at such an enterprise indicate?

- From the economic point of view, the decrease in exports of Belaruskali and the decrease in exports in general across the country are diverse events. The export of potash fertilizers is a matter of fact.

Global demand in potash fertilizers is declining. I'm not a specialist in potash fertilizers, but I guess that it's about the reduction of consumption in the world market as a whole. And it should affect not only Belaruskali but also other companies in the industry.

As for the reduction of exports of the Belarusian industry, primarily manufacturing, the problem is that this industry is not developing. One that does not develops always lags behind.

Therefore, there is no need to talk about a significant increase in exports until there is no investments, primarily foreign ones, or private investor.

As for Belaruskali, everything depends on the management. One can practice forced downtime and pay 2/3 of the salary. If it does not work then some employees face the unpaid leave.

In my opinion, it may be unusual for the employees of Belaruskali, but for others, this is quite common. The situation reoccurs in different industries. It happened in the 90s, in the early 2000s and continues now in the 2010s.

If you like this article, you can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL 97 1160 2202 0000 0002 1671 1123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com