- Title: RUSSIA: Builders demand three-month's backpay in crisis-hit Urals
- Date: 3rd December 2008
- Summary: EKATERINBURG, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 2, 2008) (REUTERS) CROWD OF WORKERS AROUND FIRE AT FREEZING CONSTRUCTION SITE VARIOUS OF WORKERS AROUND FIRE CROWD OF WORKERS AT CONSTRUCTION SITE UNFINISHED BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FOREMAN, AVAZBEK AVAZBEKOV, SAYING: "We went on strike because we have not been paid our salaries for three months." WORKERS STANDING NEAR FIRE (SOUNDBIT
- Embargoed: 18th December 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Economic News
- Reuters ID: LVA10NGWC341FYD5I1OWJ6BQZMTI
- Story Text: Foreign construction workers go on strike after not being paid by their employers for three months because of lack of funds.
About 200 foreign workers employed by a local construction firm in the city of Ekatherinbrug in Russia's Ural mountains region went on strike on Monday (December 1) to demand backpay from their employer.
The desperate workers, mostly from Central Asian states, say they have not been paid by their employer "Alfa-Stroy" since September.
"We went on strike because we have not been paid our salaries for three months," said builders' foreman Avazbek Avazbekov.
"We were forced to do it because we don't have money to pay rent, to pay for transport. Some people who already bought tickets home had to return them. They are all here. This situation forced us to do it," he said.
Unable to pay rent, the workers have moved into unfinished buildings with wood fires being their only source of heat. Most of the migrant workers come from impoverished ex-Soviet Central Asian states. Money earned in Russia is often the only income their families rely on.
"We can't send any money home. They wait for it at home. I told them I can't send them anything," said Rakhmon Gatoyev, a migrant worker from Tajikistan.
The local attorney's office has taken up the case and said it would make a decision soon.
"The building company has signed contracts with the citizens of the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan. The people have not been paid their salaries," said assistant district attorney, Evgenia Zyryanova.
"On November 29 the Attorney's office for the Leninsky district met the representatives of the construction companies. We are currently working on appropriate measures we could enforce," she added.
The global financial crisis has hit the Russian construction market hard, resulting in the freezing of major building projects and job losses.
A regional trade union has advised the workers to take legal action against their employer.
"To pay salaries is the duty of the employer. Even if the contractor has not paid the employer the people should go to court. And the court would rule for the employer to return the money," said Andrei Vetluzhskih, chairman of Sverdlovsk regional trade union federation.
Referring to them as "gastarbeiter", a German term commonly used to describe migrant workers, Vetluzhskih believes the current economic crisis is to blame for the situation with the workers from Central Asia.
"Speaking about the gastarbeiter situation in general we see our task in making the employment of the gastarbeiters to be economically unfeasible. So that there are no temptations for the employers to sack a local worker and employ gastarbeiter to save money, especially in the time of crisis," Vetluzhskih said.
The employer owes its workers about 11 million roubles (311,000 euros) for the last three months of work.
The end of the era of cheap global credit has hit Russia's developers hard and many have frozen all but a few key projects.
Russian companies have to repay or refinance 120 billion U.S. Dollars (USD) before the end of 2009, and the government has already pledged to help refinance 50 billion USD from its foreign exchange reserves, amid the capital markets freeze.
But banks are unwilling to lend to developers and retailers - among the most aggressive borrowers - as they expect property prices to fall sharply and the consumer boom to make a hard landing due to an expected slowdown in Russia's economic growth.
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