20 March, 2009At Zlatoust Steel Plant ZSP in Russia steelworkers renew their hunger strike. Workers demand to return normal length of working day and level of wages and do not trust their management who violated own obligations. The trade union is looking for the ways to solve the conflict.
RUSSIA: At night from 9 to 10 March Alexander Negrebetskikh together with a group of mill operators of the rolling-mill shop of the Zlatoust Steel Plant in Chelyabinsk region restarted their earlier suspended hunger strike to protest against the sharp decrease of wages at the enterprise.
The situation at the plant escalated after the management issued the provision concerning the wages abolishing all bonuses stipulated by the collective agreement. In result workers' gains decreased in average by two times and amounted to slightly more than 5 thousand roubles (110 Euros) per month. 16 February two mill-operators Alexander Negrebetskikh and Andrey Shugin refused to sign the notification regarding their wages decrease and declared a hunger strike.
The strikers met the enterprise management, deputies of the city assembly and the chairman of the IMF affiliated Miners and Metallurgical Workers' Union (MWWU) local at the enterprise. The employer promised to deal with the situation and to restore the wages, however instead a new order appeared decreasing working day to 6 hours and reducing wages by third. In reply the desperate workers together with their colleagues from other shops started new hunger strike.
The main demands of the strikers are to restore normal working hours and their wages equal to at least three minimum subsistence levels. They are sure that the economising should not be done at the expense of workers. The strikers underline that they do not refuse fulfilling their duties and work, nevertheless the management calls their actions "illegal" and accuses workers of "extremism" and "fomentation of social unrest".
The trade union committee negotiates wages with the management. The ZSP union organisation together with the MMWU regional committee appealed to the State labour inspectorate. In result the management abolished the order on wage decrease. The public prosecutor's office of Zlatoust imposed penalties on the enterprise for violation of the labour legislation.
However, workers are concerned about the destiny of their enterprise. They knew that the company is going to submit for a long-lease or sale a considerable share of the enterprise assets, that can result in mass redundancies and unemployment in the city of Zlatoust.
Zlatoust Steel Plant was founded in 1902 and is the oldest and unique enterprise producing over 1000 special types of steel and alloys. Since 2005 the enterprise is owned by the steel making company Estar.