Chyrvony Kastrychnik Factory on Strike

09.12.2006.

Having received their pay slips, workers of Chyrvony Kastrychnik shoe factory saw that their salaries for the last month have reduced at about Br 100,000. It was the main reason for today’s strike. Workers complain about bad working conditions: they do not have a lunch break; sometimes they have to work on weekends.

Strikers told that workers of a private enterprise Marka situated nearby get much higher salaries, though their working schedules and work assignments are the same.

Cutters wrote their demands in a letter to the director of the enterprise Chyrvony Kastrychnik and informed the administration about the hunger strike. However none of the administration representatives went to them.

A deputy engineering manager Larysa Voiush said to journalists that the director is out of town. She refused to confirm that workers are on a strike. She said that the women have a usual break. Mrs. Voiush tried to charge journalists with violation of a pass control and asked guards who had allowed the journalists to enter the premises of the enterprise. Besides, Mrs. Voiush ordred to find out who had informed the mass media about the hunger strike.