Lukashenka makes it harder for workers to leave woodworking plants
Aliaksandr Lukashenka,
by a presidential decree issued on 7 December, ruled that employees
of woodworking plants may not quit their job without the employer`s
permission before the expiry of their labor contract.
The decree was signed one week after the Belarusian
leader warned that he would ban workers from leaving the country's
woodworking plants until the completion of their modernization. The
document requires all employees at the plants to sign fixed-term
labor contracts.
Workers will be allowed to appeal the
employer's refusal to let them quit to the chair of the regional or
Minsk executive committee.
The restriction will be lifted once
the modernization of the company is over, according to the
presidential press office.
The decree is also aimed at
discouraging workers from getting fired for poor work. Under the
decree, employees that will be fired for the improper discharge of
their duties in the period will have to repay all of their monthly
bonuses to the enterprise.
In addition, the decree stipulates
that individuals will be fined 10 to 100 times the Base Rate and
companies will be slapped with fines of 50 to 500 times the Base Rate
for delaying the modernization of the woodworking plants.
While
inspecting a woodworking plant in Barysau, Minsk region, on 30
November, Mr. Lukashenka warned that workers would not be allowed to
"resign without the permission of the manager."
"If
[he] permits [this], let [him] go, if [he] doesn't, [he] must work.
Violators [should be punished with] compulsory labor," he said.
Mr. Lukashenka added that the companies would have to start
paying between $400 and $500 to their employees in the first quarter
of 2013, or nearly double the current pay.
Independent trade
unions condemned Mr. Lukashenka`s remarks and said that they would
inform the International Labor Organization about the proposed
restriction. //BelaPAN
