Chinese workers from the Rosneft plant are protesting in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. They complain about delayed salaries

Similar protests took place in the city five years ago

On April 12, Chinese workers staged a protest in Komsomolsk-on-Amur . About 200 workers marched through the city streets, holding posters with requests for help addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft head Igor Sechin. Authorities in the Khabarovsk Territory said that the protest was staged by employees of the Petro-Hekhua company, which participated in the modernization of the Komsomolsk oil refinery. Thus, they wanted to draw attention to salary delays. The mayor of Komsomolsk and the director of the oil refinery entered into a dialogue with the workers. No arrests were reported.

On April 13, Chinese workers continued to protest . As the telegram channel “Caution, News” reported , in the morning several dozen people lined up near the entrance gates of the Komsomolsk Oil Refinery. The roads near the plant were blocked by riot police, but again there were no arrests. In the afternoon, workers from the People's Republic of China returned to their closed town for lunch. Later, the entrance to it was also cordoned off by riot police. “Now they don’t let people in, everything is cordoned off. As I understand it, they are strongly advised not to leave the town,” an eyewitness told the telegram channel.

Workers protested after their contract with their employer was terminated. The Komsomolsk Oil Refinery is part of the Rosneft corporation. The Petro-Hehua company built a hydrocracking complex at the plant. Recently, a contract with a Chinese contractor was terminated due to missed deadlines and poor quality of work, the government of the Khabarovsk Territory said . According to officials, workers from the People's Republic of China demanded to restore contact with Petro-Hehua and organize a meeting for them with the company's management, but the director of Petro-Hehua stated that he was not in Russia and could not meet with the team.

Petro-Hehua did not pay employees. Now they can't go home. The Komsomolsk Refinery stated that it paid for all the work of the Chinese contractor until the contract was terminated. Why this money did not reach the Petro-Hehua workers at the refinery is unknown. However, the employer not only did not pay the employees, but also did not arrange for their return home due to termination of the contract . “The regional government is ready to help them return to their homeland, but the employer must initiate this process. So far there is no official position of the company on this issue,” said the authorities of the Khabarovsk Territory.

Petro-Hehua employees who worked at the Komsomolsk Oil Refinery have already protested in 2021 . They staged a whole series of actions , declaring that they were owed wages for several months and were not being sent home. Petro-Hehua, in turn, said that wages were delayed by subcontractors and that those employees who were suspended from work due to violations took part in the demonstrations. It was allegedly not possible to take workers back to China at that moment due to Covid restrictions, the company added. The Chinese were not punished for street protests, and by the end of 2021 they were still sent home.