Henadz Fedynich: The Moment Will Come - and the Belarusian Workers Will No Longer Be Stopped

The organized working class conquers all power.

The situation at state-owned enterprises in Belarus has sharply deteriorated recently. The Barysau cannery does not pay salaries for several months, and the management cuts salaries by 200-250 rubles at the Druzhba poultry farm. The website Charter97.org talked about the situation at enterprises in Belarus with the leader of the independent trade union REP Henadz Fedynich.

- Lukashenka began his rule under the slogan “I will start factories.” Meanwhile, experts report on the catastrophic pace of the de-industrialization of Belarus. A striking example of this is the situation with the Motovelo plant, which, after several failed attempts of reorganization, was eventually decided to be sold at "sites." How do you assess the state to which the industry of Belarus has been brought?

- The public sector could still be in the economic sphere 15 years ago. Yes, some enterprises can remain under the jurisdiction of the state, but the main part must be privatized. The enterprises are still "privatized," but the state owns the main stake. This is our pseudo-privatization.

Industry in Belarus is in dire need of new technologies, and some factories are in need of new buildings. They should not be so energy-intensive, and the products manufactured at Belarusian enterprises should be competitive both in price and quality. Now it is a “competitor” in terms of price, not because we are reducing its cost, but because the level of wages of our workers cannot be compared with the wages of our neighbors in Europe.

I believe that nothing good awaits us in the economy under this government. This also applies to other areas.

- Separately, I would like to hear your opinion about the situation at BMZ. The largest enterprise in Zhlobin must find somewhere 3.5 billion rubles within a year to pay off debts and actually went bankrupt. How could it be brought to this?

- BMZ is not alone in this situation, other enterprises also ask for loans. The question is that the government has written off these loans to the state more than once, but now the situation is different. The safety margin of this system is running out and, naturally, there are big doubts that BMZ will find this money. You need to produce a huge amount of products, sell them in order to make a profit and pay off a loan. Today the enterprise cannot afford such a thing.

I will say this: you can deceive people, but you cannot deceive the economy. Questions of this type are very problematic for every enterprise in the public sector of the economy because their debt load is simply colossal.

- Recently, more and more information has appeared about delays and a sharp reduction in salaries at large regional enterprises: the Hlubokaye milk cannery, the Barysau cannery, the Druzhba poultry farm near Baranavichy. In what conditions did the Belarusian working class find itself due to the decline of the industrial sector?

- So far, we have no information on regular wage delays at major industrial giants.

I think that the crisis has primarily affected the processing industry. The same poultry factories produce products and give them away, and suppliers do not always pay them. In this case, enterprises have monetary delays in paying taxes on profits, deductions to the Federal Social Welfare Fund, because there is nothing to pay from.

If private traders or a corporate structure worked, then there would be advance payment, an agreement so that neither one nor the other side would suffer. Belarusian state-owned enterprises are not entitled to independently make decisions, even where to give their products. The market does not work like that in a normal state. Even in an ordinary bazaar, you are not given a loan. There is a product, there is money.

In Belarus, processing enterprises have always suffered.

- The REP trade union has taken a clear and principled position in the situation with the Norwegian company Yara, which is ready to break the contract with Belaruskali because of the violation of workers' rights to protest and strike. Why is it important to support Salihorsk residents? What should be the reaction to violations of the rights of Belarusian workers?

- In my opinion, we are not so much asking Yara to terminate the contract, but rather focusing attention on the gross violation of the rights of workers of Belaruskali, especially those who are on strike. This is a legal mess. Yara has the ability to influence this particular situation. This is politics, but today Belarus finds itself in this politics because of the actions of the authorities. It was not the people who led the country into this gate, so I believe that the administration should be clearly set conditions. Today Europe, especially the Norwegians, who are advanced in matters of democracy, cannot support this regime and the unlawful attitude towards workers.

An independent trade union is solidarity actions in support of the working class, it is our nature, we cannot do otherwise. We cannot speak differently, and those who speak differently must vacate their seats. Therefore, we propose to develop a common position of independent trade unions in relation to all enterprises that work with foreign capital. Foreign companies should not leave the market; on the contrary, they should reconsider their position and set clear conditions.

- Many people remember the stories of the late 1980s and early 1990s when the Orsha workers blocked the railroad tracks and the Salihorsk miners got out of the mines and made a march to Minsk. What can the bullying of the authorities over the working class lead to?

- I sometimes joke that if the fridge is empty, then it is no time for politics. If wages decrease and there are salary delays, then it is not only the management of enterprises that is to blame, the system itself is to blame, and the workers understand this.

I am not a supporter of any "extremes," but, moreover, I do not perceive the methods that the authorities use against civil society. The situation in Belarus is completely unpredictable. The moment will come - and it will no longer be necessary to lead the workers with the help of telegram channels because they will no longer be stopped since it will simply be impossible to support a family. The workers will then rise up en masse and will fight for their rights themselves. The authorities must understand this.

- The more relevant events of August 2020 are also fresh in our memory when the workers of the MZKT openly shouted to Lukashenka: “Go away!” How afraid is the regime of organized workers' activities?

- Any government, not only our regime, is afraid of organized actions of workers because it rarely happens when organized workers do not succeed. The working class will not just go out into the streets. He will come out to defend legitimate interests and rights. Today they are interested in issues that directly concern them - salaries, utilities, the increase in utility tariffs. This is where politics begins, and this is where politics, which hurts the workers for a living, ends for the authorities.

What can the authorities rely on when they put pressure on people with layoffs? Who counted the nerves of workers, employees, doctors, and teachers who are not renewed annually? Today, everyone from the MZKT who joined the "Free Trade Union of Metal Workers" was dismissed. Is it normal when lists are sent to the company with whom the contract should be terminated? Are you guys doing a concentration camp in Belarus? You will not succeed - don't you understand it yet?

- The idea that it is necessary to resume the political strike and stop work for several weeks is increasingly heard among workers at various enterprises. How dangerous is such a nationwide strike for the regime? How to prepare it, taking into account the past experience and mistakes, so that it is truly effective?

- I will not read the instructions, but I want to say that the first call for a national strike was not prepared. Hence the result.

Calling and doing are two different things. In order for the workers' protest to take place, several combined factors are needed. Strikes should take place at least in large regions and certainly in Minsk.

Any call must be prepared. This is not going to a bar for a beer, but serious work. But the people will organize themselves - sooner or later.

The protest mood did not go anywhere. Another question is that you need to work with people, you need to listen to them, they also have their own point of view. You need to understand what people demand and what the organizers want. There should be mutual understanding and trust in each other, and this will certainly lead to a result.

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