Workers are starving, Kholmanskikh is silent

UPDATE 15:44

On September 7, a statement in support of starving workers appeared in the “Live Journal” of the co-chairman of the movement “In Defense of Working People” (the movement was created by Igor Kholmanskikh) Evgeniy Artyukh. In addition to Artyukh, the statement was signed by Igor Kholmanskikh and the chairman of the regional trade unions, Andrei Vetluzhskikh. This statement is not on the embassy's website.

Oleg Deripaska's Rusal issued a statement that no layoffs are planned at the Bogoslovsky aluminum smelter (BAZ) and the enterprise will continue to operate.

Igor Kholmanskikh was criticized in the Ural media for the fact that instead of solving serious problems with workers, he was busy meeting with the leader of the Chaif ​​group and issues of developing field hockey.

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In Novouralsk, 87 former employees of the Automobiles and Motors of the Urals (AMUR) plant resumed a hunger strike demanding that the management of the enterprise return back wages and pay severance pay. Four hunger strikers have already been hospitalized.

The hunger strikers wrote appeals to the president and his plenipotentiary envoy to the Ural Federal District, Igor Kholmanskikh, with a request to intervene in the situation. “Although the situation with the workers was known to Kholmanskikh even without our request,” says Denis Sizov, a member of the legislative assembly of the Sverdlovsk region. “Where is his defense of the working man?.. The starving people gave most of their lives to work at the plant.” The workers had special hopes for Igor Kholmanskikh - he became the presidential envoy immediately from the post of head of the Uralvagonzavod workshop. Kholmanskikh is known for positioning himself in his speeches as a defender of labor, and one of his first initiatives in his new position was the proposal to introduce the title of Hero of Labor.

The first hunger strike of AMUR workers took place from August 20 to 23 in the reception room of Legislative Assembly deputy Denis Sizov in Novouralsk. 57 people took part in it. It ended with the prosecutor's office intervening in the case, and a criminal case was initiated against the management of the enterprise under Article 165 of Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Causing property damage by deception or abuse of trust" and under Article 196 ("Intentional bankruptcy"). The management of the plant was was forced to make concessions, and the wage debt was paid to the first group of hunger strikers (16 people). a large number of participants.

Denis Sizov, deputy of the legislative assembly of the Sverdlovsk region from the LDPR

“Last year, I received appeals from factory workers. As soon as the temperature dropped below zero. The heating was not turned on at the factory, the toilets were closed due to lack of water. People continued to work in these conditions; in the workshops it was sometimes down to minus 20 degrees. These are unrealistic conditions. And now they don’t want to pay. We wrote to everyone about this, but until August 17, 2012, there was no reaction. Then people decided to go on a hunger strike. They settled in the city center, a three-minute walk away. from the administration in my reception. The hunger strike lasted for three days. The management of the plant paid the arrears of wages to 16 workers. The head of the administration, Popov, promised the rest money until the end of the month. But nevertheless, no progress occurred. hunger strike, which began on September 3. Now 24 people are taking part in the hunger strike in my reception room and 63 people are on hunger strike at home. The authorities are not making contact with us at all. Even the mayor of the city has not visited us. Presidential Envoy Kholmanskikh was the first to be warned about what was happening here, but he never came. Where is his protection that he promised to every worker?"

Irina Zaprudina, former AMUR worker, hunger striker

“I have been participating in a hunger strike in the reception room for the 4th day, before that I was fasting at home. I worked at the plant for 27 years. Personally, I was not paid 33 thousand 400 rubles, but I am on a hunger strike for everyone, not only for myself. The plant management does not is coming to meet us because they have nothing to tell us. They promised to pay us by the 31st, but they didn’t keep their promise, no matter what anyone said, we only want one thing - give us back our money, we don’t want anything else. We have nothing to do with politics. We demand our wages; we don’t even know when we will have elections here. The hunger strike will continue until the wages are paid.”

Valery Spiridonov, former AMUR worker, leader of the hunger strike initiative group

“I worked at the plant for 35 years, even more. It used to be called differently. We were a branch of ZIL then. 11 years in hazardous production. And I never thought that the plant would be brought to this level.

I was among the first group of starving people who were paid. But they didn’t give us all the money, only wages and vacation compensation, and they refused to pay severance pay. Although we all filed a lawsuit, and the court sided with us, they still refuse to pay. Now our place in Denis Sizov’s reception room has been taken by other starving people, and we go to them and support them. The plant management does not come to meet us, but we went to them. The plant director then told us: “I didn’t pay you and I’m not going to pay you.” But under pressure from the regional prosecutor’s office, they paid us something. But there is money at the plant! They also sell machines, scrap metal, and presses. The financial director said that 500-600 thousand rubles come into his account weekly. So this is how everyone can pay off their debt! But now he already says that not weekly, but monthly. The money disappears to no one knows where."

It was not possible to contact the General Director of AMUR CJSC Yuri Afanasyev. The official website of the company is blocked for non-payment . There is no one at the plant itself except for security. Afanasiev, in the only available interview , stated that there is a debt, but it is less than what the starving people claim, and the debt is gradually being paid. “The money was received not by those who were starving, but by those who agreed to dialogue. If they all immediately came to talk normally, the issue would be resolved,” said Yuri Afanasyev. “There’s nothing holding me back from AMUR. I put on my belt and left,” he concluded.

Everyone is on strike

There are other worker protests taking place in the Sverdlovsk region now. In Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha, 20 former workers of the Verkhny Sinyachikha metallurgical plant, which went bankrupt in July 2012, have been on hunger strike since September 4. The company's debt to employees amounts to about 15 million rubles.

On September 2, a rally was held in Krasnoturinsk, organized by the trade union of the Bogoslovsky Aluminum Plant (BAZ) against the closure of the enterprise. The decision to close the enterprise is being discussed by Rusal's board of directors.

From September 3 to 5, miners of the Red Riding Hood mine went on strike in Severouralsk. A conciliation commission was created to negotiate with the owner of the mine, Rusal, and under guarantees of a peaceful resolution of the conflict and the prevention of mass layoffs, the miners left the mine and ended the strike. Valery Zolotarev, a representative of the Russian miners' trade union, has applied to hold two rallies near the Severouralsk administration building on September 15 and 16, at which the miners' problems will be raised and the difficult situation at the BAZ will be discussed.

A crisis situation is brewing in Asbest, where the Russian Magnesium enterprise is asking to be declared bankrupt.

On September 6, Igor Kholmanskikh finally responded to the workers’ protests and instructed the chief federal inspectors to “take a more active position in the event of social tension and, together with regional and municipal authorities, take effective measures.” The press service of the embassy reported this. PublicPost was unable to contact Kholmanskikh himself or his representatives.

AMUR's troubles

The AMUR plant was declared bankrupt in 2009; the owner of the plant, Pavel Chernavin, hired a team of anti-crisis managers from the consulting company Active Forms, which is controlled by the director of AMUR, Yuri Afanasyev. The measures taken by management led nowhere. On June 5, 2012, the general director of the enterprise, Yuri Afanasyev, announced that AMUR CJSC had ceased operations. Due to the fact that the enterprise is located in a closed city (after the Second World War, the country's first plant for the production of highly enriched uranium, the Ural Electrochemical Plant, was built in Novouralsk), it is difficult to find foreign investors.

Governor of the Sverdlovsk region Evgeny Kuyvashev proposed at a meeting on September 6 to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Russia Ajay Malhotra to use the production capacity of the Novouralsk AMUR plant for the production of TATA trucks. According to Kuyvashev, the Indians were interested in the proposal. Prior to this, similar negotiations with the Chinese manufacturer Lifan, interested in AMUR's capacities, ended in nothing. In addition to the Indians, the authorities of the Sverdlovsk region offered to purchase AMUR to Uralvagonzavod; the proposal is under consideration.

AMUR's debt to creditors exceeds 3 billion rubles. The plant's total debt for workers' wages is more than 30 million rubles. Now the plant's property is scrap metal, etc. - sold out.