It exploded at the Kharkov plant
In the area of the Kharkov metro station “Industrialnaya” (formerly “Proletarskaya”), two hundred workers of the Elektrotyazhmash plant were blocking Moskovsky Avenue.
People stood at the pedestrian crossing, blocking the movement of cars and trolleybuses on this strategic route connecting Kharkov with Chuguev, Izyum and Donbass. 40 police officers ensured order.
The reason for the protest is inescapable wage debts at the enterprise.
“Almost three months without a salary, debts to banks on loans, debts for utilities, no money for treatment, no money for clothes, no money for food. The lives of employees are at risk, because for those pennies that were paid for almost three! a month, a normal person cannot live. This cannot even be called existence. We need to act!” the organizers urged on the plant’s pages on social networks. “At the end of January they gave 30% for December and that’s it. There is almost no work at the enterprise; now it’s a four-day week, and even then it’s not for everyone. Those who have work take turns going out,” says one of the workers.
In the workshops of Elektrotyazhmash.
And about. General Director of the plant Viktor Busko promised to pay for December and January by the end of the day on March 2. The partners, who, in turn, owed money for a long time, paid for the plant’s products, and so the money appeared. The workers will be given their salaries for December and will begin to be paid for January. “A source of funds to pay off current delays in wages has been found. Today, the required 40 million UAH will be credited to the company’s account and paid to employees in full. We are at the final stage of bringing Elektrotyazhmash out of the crisis; soon such problems will disappear forever at the enterprise,” noted V. Busko. It is known for certain that the organizers of the protest are threatening to block the streets again if the director does not fulfill his promise within the time frame specified by him or debts begin to accumulate again.
The regional state administration decided to publicize the plant’s troubles. Not the governor and not her deputies, but the entire head of the regional industrial development department, Vladimir Mishchenko, said: “The Kharkov Regional State Administration supports the aspirations of people who survive without wages, who have accumulated debts on loans and for utilities. However, we ask you to defend your rights without violating the current legislation - without blocking streets or other unauthorized actions.” As they say, “the young lady lie down and ask.” According to him, in order to provide the plant with work, the administration, for example, “reserves the right to address this issue to the central authorities - the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Security and Defense Council and directly to the President of Ukraine.”
So who stopped them from contacting earlier, because the problem arose not today? Who stopped you from standing up for the plant when you got there on your chicken legs? rode up with a SBU search? And in general, should the region be concerned about its residents? Oh yes, “there are many of you, but I am alone”...
And indeed, the state is “sticking out money” to many in Kharkov and the region, while 32% of Kharkov debtor enterprises have not declared bankruptcy, work continues in the workshops. The Malyshev plant, whose military products the regional authorities like to boast about, accumulated debts throughout 2020. In December 2020, the employees of this glorious “mailbox” were paid only for October. The regional state administration promised that the debts would be repaid, but they never paid the employees 100% and are paying them back little by little. The main chronic debtor of the region is aircraft factory. There, in February 2021, they gave employees 800 hryvnia from their salaries... for February 2020, to “support their pants.”
Plant named after Malyshev.
According to the State Statistics Service, in the Kharkov region, debtors include both state-owned enterprises (31%) and joint-stock companies (42%), a small part of the debt falls on utility companies and LLCs. But there are no debtors among private entrepreneurs. The President of the Association of Private Employers, Alexander Chumak, assures that FOPs (individual entrepreneurs - ed.) even during quarantine tried to pay at least the minimum wage, and not fire employees. Yes, they cut and cheated, but to simply “throw it away”, as in the 90s - under no circumstances!
So the Kharkov factory lives less than fifty kilometers from the Russian border, in other years the third industrial center of the USSR. Of course, there are still successfully operating enterprises here, but we hear only about those who have problems.
PS By the evening of March 2, the employees of Elektrotyazhmash were repaid their wage debts, that is, the remaining part of December and in full for January. According to the management of the enterprise, a total of 42 million hryvnia were paid. Now, according to the assurances of the plant management, there are no overdue wages at the plant. In addition, arrears in the amount of 4 million hryvnia were paid to employees who were dismissed and left at their own request. They are promised to repay the rest of the debt by March 12.
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