MZKT Worker: The Authorities Are Afraid of Leaders Who Can Mobilize People

The workers are suing the administration of the enterprise.

On December 2, a preliminary court hearing was held on the dismissal of an employee of the MZKT, belsat.eu reports.

Three workers of the MZKT - Andrei Yankovich and brothers Ruslan Rouba and Siarhei Rouba - filed complaints with the court about illegal dismissal. On December 2, a hearing was held on Ruslan's case. In recent years, about 50 employees have been laid off or left the plant.

Found fault with glasses that were never given

Ruslan Rouba was fired on October 30, allegedly, for being absent from the office for 35 minutes. The second penalty was for the lack of protective glasses. Ruslan stated that these reasons are far-fetched and illegal.

He has been working at the plant since 2015, and he was transferred to the position of research engineer in 2020 and was engaged in the inspection of non-working equipment.

Ruslan applied to the court with a demand to return him to work and to declare his dismissal illegal. He also asked for moral compensation, amounting to 10 thousand rubles.

The judge asked why there is such a large number for moral damage. Ruslan replied: "Ask for more because you will get less anyway."

From the side of the plant's administration, lawyer Yury Shamilau and head of the personnel department Maksim Shishkavets were present at the trial and did not agree with the stated requirements.

Before the court, the lawyer asked: "What is all this for?" Ruslan replied: "You started it first."

The first warning was issued to Ruslan on October 26 for the fact that he was absent from his office.

A general strike was called on October 26. The workers of the MZKT plant, about 30 people, gathered to check the situation. Just at that moment, the plant administration began to walk around the offices to find out who was not at the workplace.

"We tried to find out the mood in the team, approached the site where we usually gathered. There were no demands that day; we just got together and talked. Then several deputies approached us and began to frighten us that they would fire us. People went to the workshops," says Siarhei Rouba, Ruslan's brother.

The second warning was that Ruslan was in the shop without protective glasses. Ruslan explained that no one had ever given him glasses.

The administration replied to the court that they are not required to be with everyone and are only needed when an employee enters the production workshop. For 139 people, there are 20-30 common glasses that are passed from person to person. The judge noted that this is unacceptable during the epidemiological situation.

Later it turned out that Ruslan never signed anywhere that he was familiar with the internal regulations. The defendants said he could see them on the information board. Although, according to the Labor Code, it is the employer who must personally familiarize the employee with the rules and receive a signature, which was not done.

At the meeting, the judge asked the defendants what guarantees are provided if the employee is dismissed on the employer's initiative. They could not answer this question. They were looking for information for some time, but it turned out that there were no guarantees. According to the charter of the trade union that Ruslan belongs to, no guarantee payments are provided upon dismissal. One of the independent foundations provided financial assistance to Ruslan.

As a result, Judge Maryja Sauchuk appointed a new hearing for December 8.

There was an order from above

"There was an order from above that we should be fired," Siarhei Rouda said.

He said that first, the order came that they should be punished. Therefore, they were issued the first order of disciplinary action. Siarhei clarified whether there would be any consequences due to this warning, to which he was answered: "We do not know."

"Then they called me and said that this was not enough, and they had to fire us. There were three names on the list. Why exactly us, we do not know. They are afraid that there will be leaders who will be able to raise people," said Siarhei.

The workers were first offered to write a statement of dismissal by agreement of the parties while there is a chance, and then they would have a "clean work record book." But they replied that they did not agree and did not understand why they should quit at all. At the end of the working day, they were given the record books, where it was written that they were dismissed under the article for "non-performance of official duties without valid reasons" and have a non-lifted disciplinary penalty.

Siarhei Rouba told about the case when Lukashenka came to their factory: "I managed to ask him a couple of questions, and I asked who in our country the power belongs to. He replied: "in our country, to me." I told him that this is why people are coming out to change this situation."

After that, the microphone was immediately taken away from Siarhei.

"They are afraid that there will be leaders who can raise people. When someone stands up, they try to put him back or aside," Siarhei says.

After the trial, Ruslan said that he was ready to return to work: "Let them return us, and then we will see. Our team is good, with the exception of a few people."

About twenty people came to support Ruslan in court.

On December 3, similar court hearings will take place on the cases of Andrei Yankovich and Siarhei Rouba.