'Components, Engines No Longer Sold To Us Because Of Sanctions'

What is going on at MTZ now?

The situation with salaries at Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ) is extraordinary. As employee Kiryl (name changed) told Zerkalo, the workers do not know yet what their wages for August will be (the conversation took place on September 9). However, he has concerns that wages have fallen compared to earlier months.

According to him, in July, the workers already received lower wages, and, Kiryl says, the decrease was the same for everyone - by 200 roubles. According to the factory worker, after trying to find out the reasons, the middle management confessed that it was because MTZ was helping Slavonic Bazaar with funding.

"They suggested to us: "Say thank you to Lukashenka" and explained that the factory director had been forced to sponsor Slavonic Bazaar. That's why they took 200 rubles from each worker. Although there was no such line in the payment slip. Now we are waiting for the payment slips for August - let's see what they say," says Kiryl.

It should be noted that MTZ is not listed as a General Sponsor on the Slavonic Bazaar website. The company has also announced that MTZ is not a sponsor of this year's festival. We do not have any documentary evidence confirming the fact that the event is funded from the salaries of MTZ employees.

At the same time, says the plant worker, the workload situation has worsened. However, the situation varies from shop to shop.

"The shops, which were focused on producing energy intensive tractors, are mostly idle. Now it is problematic to produce such tractors: firstly, because they were sold abroad to western or civilized eastern countries, and they stopped buying them because of sanctions.

Secondly, imported components, including American and European engines, were used to produce energy-saturated tractors. Once again, because of sanctions, these components and engines are no longer sold to us. On the other hand, tractors which are made according to the Soviet model and assembled for the nondemanding customer with engines made by Minsk Motor Plant are being produced little by little for Belarus and Russia", Kiryl continues.