Miners Demand Advance of Wages

Source: www.charter97.org

The Belarusian Independent Trade Union of Miners (BITUM) demands increase in pay to workers of the enterprise Belaruskaliy. According to the trade union, there are grounds for that. The enterprise has concluded contract with main consumer of the production, China, a collective agreement has been signed, and which is more important, prices for the services and goods in the country are growing, and wages are decreasing, www.praca-by.info reports.

As informed by the trade union, within 8 months, since November 2005 till June 2006, wages of price workers decreased by almost 220 000 Belarusian rubles. The BITUM addressed a letter to the leadership of Belaruskaliy, and made its proposals. According to the trade union, it is necessary to increase long-service award for all categories of workers. For that it has been offered to increase design ratio used for long-service award calculation. The BITUM also demands to include a third category, workers of washhouses, into the scale. The design ratio for long-service award of washhouses workers is lower than for other categories of workers of the industry.

˜Working conditions at washhouses are extremely difficult’, the BITUM inspector on legal issues Aliaksandr Karaliou said. ˜It is unfair that they have the same design ratio as those sitting in an office. We think these workers’ category must receive higher coefficient’.