Employees of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, one of Russia’s largest PPM plants, plan to initiate a large-scale strike in a bid to increase the minimum wage by 30%.
According to the union leader of Yuri Nabokov, since 2008 the salary at the enterprise fell by almost 30%, due to inflation and lack of indexation by the company.
In the meantime, administration of the company say that they can not meet the requirements of employees, as environmentally harmful plant is in a state of bankruptcy and will wait for the decision of the government.
It is planned than the government should determine the future of the plant by the end of the month. There are several ways out of the situation. For example,
according to Nabokov, there is a possibility that the plant could be reconverted, (which will cost about 5 billion rubles). At the same time it could be further expanded through the the installation of a second production line.
According to environmentalists and social activists, the closure of the enterprise does not currently consider, despite the statements of some experts that the enterprise is environmentally harmful and damaging the Baikal lake.
At the same time the Russian government is considering several options for the future operation of the plant, including its modernization, the development of alternative production and conversion.
