Stseklavalakno Factory Workers Declared Strike

Factory workers intend to strike from November 1 until the end of the year.

On October 10, workers of the Polatsk Stseklavalakno Plant decided at the conference to hold a strike. The workers' conference was organized by the Free Trade Union of Belarus. The workers demand the equal treatment of plant workers, regardless of their participation in the union, vitebskspring.org writes.

As trade union leaders informed, the strike at Stseklavalakno was the last measure to stop the abuse of the workers in the form of discrimination and psychological terrorization for participating in the Free Trade Union. The workers’ demands to the employer contain 17 points relating to changes in the norms of the collective agreement. These demands are to ensure that the employer does not interfere in the trade union activities and provides the equal treatment of workers who are members of various trade unions.

The strike is scheduled for the period from November 1 until the end of the year. As trade unionists believe, the strike will have the phased character and will be held in different brigades at different times. The decision on the form, place and time of the strike will be taken directly by the workers' units without notifying department heads.

"In any case, – Free Trade Union chairman Viktar Stukau says, – according to the Article 391 of the Labor Code, the worker decides individually if to join the strike. A boss cannot force a worker not to take part in a strike, in this case criminal responsibility is foreseen for the boss."

Free Trade Union deputy chairman Mikalai Sharakh: "The workers' conference declared a strike in full compliance with the Labor Code. In January 2017, the union filed a claim to organize collective bargaining, in early July, workers’ proposals were sent to the employer. On August 1, a new collective agreement was adopted without taking into account the workers’ proposals and without explaining the reasons why these proposals had not been taken into account. Therefore, the legal circumstances of a collective labor dispute arose. Further, according to the Labor Code, the procedures go in a very short space of time. On September 8, the union sent demands to the employer and 22 proposals on the conciliation commission. The employer ignored all these trade union’s letters. Therefore, on October 1, it became evident that the consent of the parties regarding the collective labor dispute had not been reached. "

100% of the delegates arrived at the workers' conference organized by the Free Trade Union, they voted for the strike unanimously. The number of delegates to the conference and the personal composition of the trade union is not reported for the sake of workers' safety. On October 11, the trade union sent a notice about the strike to the director, as required by the Article 390 of the Labor Code.