Rebellious BelNPP Workers: We Won’t Leave Till We Get The Money

The workers have received no wages in two months.

“I have worked for two months and I don’t intend to give my money to anyone,” says one of the installation workers who came to work on a shift from the Belarusian NPP from Russia, indignantly.

On August 15, about 50 of such workers took to the main square in Astravets. The people have only one demand - that they should be paid a salary for two months. Their shift has ended, the tickets home have been bought, they are afraid that after leaving they will not see the money they have earned. Representatives of the company that hired them to work in Belarus are perplexed why the workers made a fuss, because “they act within the law”. Tut.by visited Astravets and tried to figure out the current situation.

“We have no trust to superiors”

The journalists arrived in Astravets on August 16. They agreed to meet with the workers on the same square where they “rallied” the day before. However, no one was found near the Lenin monument. People stood in the square with the police. Law-enforcement officers were alarmed that the workers began to gather again, and they decided to figure out what was happening. Just in case, the police went to the journalists, looked at the IDs and wrote down the data.

The journalists actually talked to the installers in the house that the Sezam joint-stock company had rented for them.

“We were not paid a salary for two months,” the guys said almost in unison. “They owe us money for part of June, July and part of August.

The guys came to work in Belarus from different parts of Russia. They had to carry out installation work at the BelNPP under construction. All of them found this job by an ad. Filled out the forms via the Internet. They were hired. The employer was Stroyinvestproyekt, a company from St. Petersburg.

The workers of Stroyinvestproyekt were invited to Belarus by Sezam JSC. And this company has concluded an agreement with the general contractor for the construction of the belarusian NPP - Atomstroyexport.

- We earned 3,100 Russian rubles per day. 350 of them were per diem, paid to us with the Russian rubles on a card once a week - 2 450 rubles in total. 2750 went to the salary, - the workers tell about the wage system.

As the guys say, everyone should be paid different amounts: someone earned 80 thousand, and someone earned 50.

- “Stroyinvestproekt” promised to pay us for June on July 25-30. Then the deadlines were postponed to August 1-2. Then to August 10. In general, there is still no money, ” the workers say. “When asked why they didn’t pay, they told us that Sezam did not transfer money. And today it was reported that the money for June had already arrived, but we will receive it only on Wednesday or Thursday next week. Firstly, we no longer have any trust to the superiors. Secondly, the shift is over, we began to buy tickets, so we are going home. Someone should leave already on Saturday, someone on Sunday. But how shall we go if they didn’t pay us even per diem, and there is no money for a minibus from Astravets to Minsk? And what are we supposed to eat on the road, air?

However, according to the workers, they cannot stay here either: again, they did not pay the transport expenses- there is nothing, plus the authorities say that they will no longer rent a house for them.

“I do not get what the problem is. The amount that they owe us all is ridiculous compared to the money that revolves in the field of nuclear energy. People completed their work, there are no complaints about it, pay us and bye-bye, there would have been no conflicts!” one of those present is indignant. “We went here for big earnings. By the way, people gathered here who worked on Russian gas pipelines, oil rigs, with experience. But we prepared ourselves to receive less. However, they want to cheat us even with those pennies that we earn.”

The workers say that if they leave, they will certainly receive no money. After all, according to them, they worked without contracts.

“We were promised upon arrival here to make contracts. At first they said that it would be in the second half of July,” says one of the workers. “But we did not receive them. We raised the issue again recently, the management said they would do it. That is, the contracts are still not ready. It’s time for us to go back, but there are no contracts and no money either.

Many people have already left home, without money. According to the remaining workers, a total of 80 people came here, and a handful remained.

In addition to the fact that people have not yet received a salary, they say that they also had to spend money here.

“I caught a cold several times, the temperature was 38. Medical services for Russians should all be paid for. For the therapist and fluorography, I had to pay about 30 rubles. Nobody reimbursed these expenses, the sick-leave was at my own expense, they also did not pay for it, ” said one of the installers. “Our Misha was sick for several weeks, he had pneumonia, no one paid him money.”

The workers also complained that they had to spend money on what they were supposed to be provided with.

“I bought the gloves for welding three times myself. They cost from 8 to 12 rubles. A week later they become unusable given our intensity of work. Nobody provided us with this, ”added the installer, who was engaged in welding. “The overalls that were given to us were torn, a week later they began to diverge at the seams.

As they say, some were not even given new clothes, but “second-hand” ones. They said, the clothes are okay, you can wear it for a little longer. Some had to wear sneakers for a week, because there were no safety shoes of the right size.

- I worked for two months and I'm not going to give my money to anyone! - confidently declared the welder.

- How do these stone hearts send adult men back to families without a penny of money? Now buy the children stuff to school, to buy clothes? Look at Renat, he has 4 daughters, - added one of those present. - Our demands are simple: we are not asking for something that does not belong to us. Give us ours, for the hours worked. We will even leave here at our own expense.

“I will demand from your leadership that you are paid”

When the journalists were about to leave, two men were noticed near our car with some papers in their hands. These were representatives of Sezam JSC and Stroyinvestproyekt.

Later, several workers came up.

“You invited the media before reaching the management of the company,” said Sergey Gusev, chief engineer of Sezam JSC, to the employees. “As a representative of the company, I have withstood all contractual relations with the Stroyinvestproyekt company in which you work. But everywhere it sounded as if Sezam were not paying salaries. All conditions are specified in our contract, including payment terms. According to the document, work is paid for within 45 days from the moment of signing the act of completion of these works.

Journalists were shown a document. It really says that “the customer pays the amount due to the contractor for the services to provide employees within 45 days from the moment of signing the certificate of services rendered and invoicing.”

- Every month all your works are ascertain officially. In addition, I have an agreement that you will be compensated, including travel. The total debt in June is RUR 12 million 131 thousand with kopecks. Today is the 16th day, I paid for everything,” Sergey Gusev said and confirmed his words with the act of June 30 and the payment order for August 16.

That is, the Sezam company did not violate the terms of payment, if you did not quibble that it was 31 days in July, not 30. And the money was transferred on August 16, not 15. It turns out that 47 days passed instead of 45.

“Further, I will demand from your management that they settle accounts with you,” said the Sezam chief engineer. “I have an agreement with Stroyinvestproyect that I invite them to work on the basis of an agreement. I provide you with housing. They are required to pay you travel allowance. Travel expenses are paid for you, you live in normal conditions. That is, again, there are no questions to the Sezam company. Next comes the relationship of your contractor and you. But even in this case, I have no right to leave you. Because I invited your company to work, and accordingly you. I must control everything: from your health to finances.

“But they didn’t pay the sick leave for us, right ?!” remarked one of the workers.

“We paid to those severely ill. We don’t pay for for petty illnesses,” said the representative of the St. Petersburg company Evgeniy.

“But if there is a sick-list, then it must be paid,” the employee insisted.

“You are in another country and you have an agreement with Russia,” objected Evgeniy.

“But we generally work without contracts,” said the employee. “When we arrived here, they promised to make them for us, but they sent some fake pieces of paper, we found out from a lawyer.

The argument was interrupted by Sergey Gusev. He said that everyone was hired by contracts and they are in the personnel department of the company. People also have travel certificates, according to which per diem is paid. However, workers said that they did not see them, asked why they did not have certificates on their hands. By the way, later Evgeniy added that the people themselves refused the contracts. After all, they would receive only 18 thousand per month, and without them - more.

- If you need security and you do not have enough of it in your company, you have conditions that Stroyinvestproyekt cannot comply with, why didn’t you come to us and say, I don’t want to work for Stroyinvestproyekt, I want to work for Sezam?” asked Sergey Gusev. “Come to us to work. The conditions are the same, the accommodation is the same, the only thing - you will not receive business travel expenses; but we accrue them along with wages. I have a work schedule, there is a thematic plan, there is an order from the management to carry out certain tasks. Each of your hands that go away is a minus to me. Therefore, I am ready to hire you.

The workers said they would consider the proposal and again returned to the issue of salary. When asked why Stroyinvestproyekt did not pay for June from 25 to 30 August as promised, and even now, when there is money in the account, they will transfer it only on Wednesday or Thursday, the employer did not answer.

“We perfectly understand what banking days are. Today the money has come to the account. Now it cannot be transferred anywhere, nothing can be charged, ” Sergey Gusev explained. “On Monday night, as a last resort on Tuesday, you will have the money. This is for June. In addition, I will insist that your company finds the money that we sent to it, to find an opportunity to advance salaries for July, too, in order to ease this tension. I am interested in making the guys happy.

Sergey Gusev also promised to make sure that employees are paid for tickets home and travel expenses.