Viktor Vekselberg's greed has brought the Kamchatka miners to a strike

Gold miners demanded that the oligarch return salaries of 3-4 thousand dollars that existed before the crisis.
01.11.2018
Kommersant
Origin source
At the Ametistovo gold deposit (part of the Renova group of Viktor Vekselberg) in Kamchatka, 78 miners are on strike for the third day because of non-payment of bonuses. Rotational workers need to return their salaries of $ 3-4 thousand, which were paid several years ago. The Investigation Committee of Russia (TFR) began checking upon the appeals of the workforce, and the governor of Kamchatka, Vladimir Ilyukhin, interrupted his vacation and flew to the peninsula.

The reason for the strike, as representatives of the Amethystvoi team told “Kommersant”, was a drop in earnings at the enterprise simultaneously with increased plans for ore mining and deprivation of bonuses for non-fulfillment. According to the workers, the average salary at the mine (located in a deserted area in the north of Kamchatka) does not exceed 70 thousand rubles. ($ 1.1 thousand), whereas "a few years ago" they were paid $ 3-4 thousand. On the eve of the workers warned the management of the enterprise about the strike in case of refusal to return the previous salary. After that, on October 29, drivers and explosives engineers of the mine did not return to work. According to them, employees of the processing plant intend to join them.

Violet - gold deposit in Kamchatka, located in 1.1 thousand km north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Explored reserves - 52.6 tons of gold and 175 tons of silver. Since 2015, about 1.2 thousand people live in the village of Ametistovoe GOK. GOK was awarded the status of a particularly significant investment project in the Kamchatka Territory. Since 2018, he has been a resident of the Kamchatka advanced development territory for the implementation of a project for the construction of a gold mine and the modernization of a mining and processing plant with a total value of 4.1 billion rubles.

In Kamchatka Gold, JSC (manages a number of Renova enterprises in Kamchatka), they confirmed to Interfax that the workers of the mine “did not go to work for a few days,” but said that they did not officially register their strike. The company clarified that under the terms of the employment contracts, employees of Ametistovoe JSC receive a salary, and bonuses are only the fulfillment of the plan. “This applies to all employees, including management. This time the plan is not fulfilled. No one has received an increase, ”the representative of Gold of Kamchatka emphasized.

According to a source close to the company's management, "the stumbling block was the failure to implement the plan for September." The leaders of Zolota Kamchatka left for the enterprise.

On Wednesday, the Investigation Department (SS) of the TFR in the Kamchatka Territory began a pre-investigation check on the fact of the application of Ametistovo employees. According to investigators, 78 employees of Ametistovoe JSC put forward demands to the management of the company to improve working conditions:

    salary increase;
    the inclusion of the passage of medical examinations in the total time of the work shift;
    sick pay;
    securing employees dorm rooms.

“According to the available data, the requirements of the team have been partially met by the management of the enterprise,” said Elena Katafonova, senior assistant to the head of the company’s management team. In the TFR promised to "carefully" examine the facts set forth in the appeal of workers, and give a legal assessment of the actions of the company's management.

Because of the strike at the mine, Governor Vladimir Ilyukhin interrupted his vacation and flew to the peninsula, where he instructed the regional Minister of Natural Resources of the region to "promptly analyze the situation." The first vice-governor of Kamchatka, Irina Untilova, expressed the hope that the management of the gold-mining companies “in a very short time” would make decisions.

Meanwhile, they are ready to stop work at other Renova enterprises in Kamchatka.

“All the same thing happens in Kamgold and Kamchatka Gold. Like “Amethyst”, they are managed by Interminerals Management, the deputy chairman of the Kamgold trade union committee, Alexander Kozhevnikov, told Kommersant. “The managing organization does not work with the team. They locked themselves in Petropavlovsk and do not know the situation on the ground. We are not paid for the days of the medical examination at the weekend, the salary for the working time is below the minimum wage, illegally withhold money for complex meals. ” A professional leader told “Kommersant” that he had previously applied to the state labor inspectorate, but there they took the side of the employer. The regional prosecutor's office, in his words, “handles formal replies and redirects complaints to the labor inspectorate.” “And in courts to prove something is unrealistic,” Mr. Kozhevnikov concluded.

In Kamchatka Gold, late on October 31, they clarified to “Kommersant” that only about 100 workers, including those who cannot start work due to the strike of other employees, are not replacing Ametistovo, but the factory’s work continues.

The company explained that the salary of employees of Amethystvoi consists of fixed (70%) and variable parts (30%), in the latter 10% is given to KTU ("labor participation rate", in fact - the subjective assessment of the line manager) and 20% - award for the implementation of the plan. For the first nine months of 2018, the average monthly salary at the enterprise amounted to 85 thousand rubles. In addition, travel expenses from the permanent place of residence to Kamchatka are reimbursed, three meals a day are provided at preferential prices, a “shift allowance” is paid, and for the interwatch period compensation in the amount of one basic salary every month (10–15 thousand a month) .

The main reason for the discontent of the strikers is the non-receipt of the right to pay a bonus of 20% for September-October due to non-fulfillment of the plan, according to Gold of Kamchatka. Their demands now are an increase in wages to 160 thousand rubles. per month in the form of a fixed amount (there are proposals for the transfer of wages to dollars and the level of $ 4-5 thousand per month), payment of time for daily medical examinations of drivers, surcharges for harm, assignment of permanent dormitory rooms to employees and a number of less significant requirements.

In the “Gold of Kamchatka”, the actions of the workers qualify as non-fulfillment of job duties, since “the requirements for the order of execution of the strike are not met, there are no grounds for the strike”.

The company, at its own request, provided the State Labor Inspectorate with documents "confirming the absence of arrears in payroll payments". The general director of Zolota Kamchatka, Alexander Golovanov, held talks with the strikers, “as a result, most of the disagreements (7 out of 9 points of claims) were settled,” the company said, without specifying details. “Some of the workers who reject the compromise approach wrote applications for dismissal by agreement of the parties and will be forwarded to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at the company's expense, the rest of the workers are in the process of making a decision to return to work,” say Gold of Kamchatka.

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