Aliaksandr Yarashuk: Protests at Enterprises Will Continue Until the Transition of Power
- 28.10.2020, 17:37
The active phase of the strikes develops into other forms of "partisan struggle."
This was stated by the chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) Aliaksandr Yarashuk, commenting for the site naviny.by on enterprises' situation after the expiration of the term of the people's ultimatum.
"On Tuesday compared to Monday, it became quieter with regard to enterprises. But nothing has gone anywhere; external forms of protest have gone deep, including sabotage, the Italian strike," Yarashuk said.
He noticed that AMAP is on duty at the checkpoints of large enterprises. "The workers were not inclined to protest en masse anyway. We more correctly call these strikes protest actions. This is what workers can afford. Everything has transformed into sabotage; in the workplace, people are holding Italian strikes. In one form or another, this manifests itself in all industrial enterprises. For example, MAZ and the Minsk Electrotechnical Plant. The strike in the classic form is taking place at Hrodna Azot," said the trade union leader.
"I don't know what the continuation will be, but we can say that most likely all actions will be wave-like. This is like a dormant volcano, which from time to time, throws out clouds of steam and ash," he said.
At the same time, he noted that the reasons that caused unrest in society are not eliminated. "The authorities are trying to solve the problem in one single way: intimidation of workers, forceful reprisals, coercion in various forms, including repression, including cases of administrative violations, dismissal of activists, and so on," the head of the association said.
According to him, all this will continue until the transit of power is carried out. "But the regime does not intend to change its policy and strategy in any way, does not intend to sit down at the negotiating table and conduct a dialogue to get out of the acute political and socio-economic crisis. Therefore, we can make a forecast with regard to the real sector of the economy: we will observe protest actions, which will be expressed in a kind of "partisan struggle." Because such forms are safer and more familiar for workers," Yarashuk noted.
At the same time, he stressed that not only workers at enterprises are protesting, but also college students.
"Private business is also protesting. Their actions aim to cause as much damage as possible to the public administration system since the closure of cafes, hairdressing salons, and other service facilities mean non-payment of taxes to the budget. More than 50% of the employees are employed in the service sector. The country will be deprived of significant budget revenues, and this will seriously destabilize the entire system of power and will also inevitably bring the country closer to a denouement," Yarashuk concluded.
In turn, the Belarusian Independent Trade Union chairman, Maksim Pazniakou, believes that the situation with strikes will be resolved in the coming days.
"Now, a lot is being decided at Hrodna Azot. If the guys stand there and continue to strike, then on a chain, the strike may spread to other enterprises as well," Pazniakou believes.