“Hungry” trade union

March 27 was the last day of hunger strike of four workers and the chief of the Free Trade Union in protest against the actions of the management of Babruisk tractor spare parts plant.

The preventive hunger strike began at 9 a.m. on March 25 and lasted for three days. The head of the group, Mihail Kavalkou, was going without food near the clockhouse because he has not been allowed to enter the territory of the enterprise. The other three activists were on hunger strike at work.

One day after the strike started another worker of Babruisk tractor details plant joined the hunger strike of five members of the Free Trade Union. Two fired workers of the plant have also supported the action, Thus, Siarhei Pichuhau, Iryna Korshunava, Henadz Labachou, Aksana Kernazhytskaia and Victar Vosipau were going without food at work as on March 26. At that time the administration of the enterprise has not reacted to its employees’ hunger strike in any way, Kavalkou said.

According to Euroradio, the participants of the hunger strike demanded that the administration stopped persecuting members of the Belarusian Free Trade Union and removed discriminatory paragraphs from the collective agreement. 

Earlier the police had warned Mihail Kavalkou about the inadmissibility of the hunger strike that hadn’t been allowed by the City Executive Committee. 

Mihail Kavalkou emphasized that “the main benefit is that nobody is forced to join us. It is the own will [of the workers]”.

 “Everyone realizes that salaries go down and sees there's a mess at the plant. Defective parts are manufactured, nobody buys our products. Some change is needed,” - quotes Belsat Henadz Labachou, one of the workers.

Aksana Kernazhytskaia, another hunger striker, said that the managers of the plant “behave like gods and have their way with us. It is a well-known fact that the court decided that Mihail was permitted to come to the plant.”

As to the position of the management of the plant, the message of Uladzimir Yeliseyenka, the ideologist, at the time of the hunger strike was terse: “There is no hunger-strike at our plant!”

Instead of seeking a peaceful solution, the top floor has started to call hunger-strikers on the carpet.

 “The plant's Associate Director has ordered our lawyer and work safety manager to talk with these people and to find out whether these people are really on hunger strike”, - said Mihail Kavalkou.

Towards the end of the strike Belarusian Independent Trade Union issued a statement in support of the strikers.

“The Belarusian Independent Trade Union supports all the requirements put forward by employees of the Babruisk Plant of Tractor Parts and Units who on March 25 announced a three-day warning hunger strike”, - spring96 cites the words of the statement. “The reason for the hunger strike of the Babruisk plant workers became discrimination of the members of the Free Trade Union”.

“We, the Belarusian Independent Trade Union, urge the plant management and its director A. Ahranovich to put an end to the discriminatory actions against the Free Trade Union of Belarus, to begin negotiations with the protesters,” urges the trade union. “Remember, thousands of our members are watching the developments in Babruisk. We express our full solidarity with our brothers and sisters!” The text was signed by the Executive Bureau of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union.

The Belarusian Free Trade Union has been trying to defend workers' interests for several years. It includes dozens of persons. But the plant's top managers keep pressurizing them. According to the activists, they are systematically threatened with dismissal, deprived of award fees and overtime payments. Appeals to court gave no result.