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Russia's car workers who struggle on no pay
bbc.com ^ | May 7, 2016 | Oleg Boldyrev

Posted on 05/06/2016 11:15:13 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper

In a sparsely furnished, single-room flat in Togliatti, Natalia Sizova counts the hours until she sees her five-year-old son again.

Six months ago she had so little food she decided he should go and live in a care centre across town.

Natalia is one of 2,000 people in this city, 1,000km (620 miles) east of Moscow, who work for car-parts maker AvtoVAZagregat. Their salaries have not been paid for months.

Togliatti is not alone. Hundreds of Russian companies, big and small, are withholding salaries.

The explanations may differ: mismanagement, bad economy or plain criminality. But for workers the end result is the same.

"Can you imagine no food at home? The child needed proper food and I just couldn't provide it," she says, holding back tears.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Russia
KEYWORDS: russia

1 posted on 05/06/2016 11:15:13 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
“Too good to throw away!”
2 posted on 05/06/2016 11:20:47 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: All

Thought that said Rubio.


3 posted on 05/06/2016 11:36:24 PM PDT by 80skid
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To: Berlin_Freeper

I want all the folks who have been praising Putin for doing such a good job to apologize

Commies are still commies


4 posted on 05/07/2016 1:22:51 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Nifster

It has to be compared with what went before.

For Russia to go nominally capitalist is one thing, and some flowers bloomed.

For it to shed the corruption and cynicality that came from decades and decades of being officially Communist, are another thing. It probably cut itself off spiritually at the knees by insisting that a complicit Russian Orthodox church be the official faith. Unless the people can freely choose how to worship, this makes it man’s work with all its sin — and not God’s.


5 posted on 05/07/2016 2:00:41 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Nifster

Working without pay means the workers work without working - typical of Russia for many many decades - long before Putin was born.


6 posted on 05/07/2016 2:34:51 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Idiots. By continuing to work without pay gives the employer incentive to not pay. You’re rewarding bad behavior. Russians...


7 posted on 05/07/2016 3:27:25 AM PDT by Antoninus II (q)
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To: Antoninus II

Yeah, I don’t get it. You have a job and you are not being paid. If you quit, what will happen? The paychecks will stop??? Just stay home. Look for employment that actually pays. Nothing will change if the car companies continue to function without paying the workers.


8 posted on 05/07/2016 4:16:56 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Democrats are mean-spirited racists who don't care about our children.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

This is how most businesses function in Russia. When things look bad they stop paying the workers and start to hide money from possible bancrupcy proceedings. When things pick up again they’ll pay the owed salary again so there is some motivation to stay on. Russian business environment is where only the corrupt schemers thrive so people don’t have much choice for alternative jobs. Honest businessmen are just driven out by corrupt rivals. Your factories would catch fire or fire inspectors would find some flaws and close it down or there would be an accident and you’d lose electricity and thousand other things.


9 posted on 05/07/2016 4:44:37 AM PDT by Krosan
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Can we ship the entire UAW union bosses and civil right activists over there “to fight the good fight”?


10 posted on 05/07/2016 4:50:20 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: Krosan
When things pick up again they’ll pay the owed salary again so there is some motivation to stay on.

Only those workers who stuck through the lean times will get paid their back salary. If in the meantime you quit, good luck getting what's owed to you.

11 posted on 05/07/2016 5:21:40 AM PDT by Drew68
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To: Nifster
I want all the folks who have been praising Putin for doing such a good job to apologize

Nonsense. The Russian automotive parts company Avtovazagregat went bankrupt after it lost is largest supply contract...hard to see how that is the central government's fault at all.

Why not blame the chief executive of the largest Russian automotive company for 'out-sourcing' many of the parts that Avtovazagregat used to make, or the controlling foreign shareholder Renault-Nissan, for failing to properly compensate its laid off workers, or the lack of trade organizations to stand up for them?

The central Russian government may need to get involved with bailing out the automotive industry and providing an economic safety net, but it certainly isn't directly to blame for the day to day management decisions of its largest domestic car maker.

Commies are still commies

I think you're a bit confused on the concept.

12 posted on 05/07/2016 5:49:27 AM PDT by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: PIF

Which is why commits are still commies


13 posted on 05/07/2016 6:03:05 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

What about the free land that Putin is giving away?


14 posted on 05/07/2016 7:20:21 AM PDT by gdzla
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To: gdzla

2.5 acres in the Far East and you have to farm it for 5 years before it is yours. Would you move to the Far East for that?

What I think will happen is that local corrupt officials will create a lot of fake applicants, assign them a ready to harvest forest plots and then just sell the timber to Chinese companies.


15 posted on 05/07/2016 7:39:25 AM PDT by Krosan
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To: PIF
Working without pay means the workers work without working - typical of Russia for many many decades - long before Putin was born.

We pretend to work; they pretend to pay us.

16 posted on 05/07/2016 8:37:16 AM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: JimRed

Yep that’s what they said from Stalin’s time on.


17 posted on 05/07/2016 8:39:31 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Berlin_Freeper; Nifster; Krosan; mac_truck; SunkenCiv

According to a presentation given by Matovnikov during a meeting with shareholders in St. Petersburg, Russia’s average monthly salary is $433, which is lower than in Serbia, Romania, China and Poland.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/sberbank-says-average-russian-salary-lower-than-chinese/569882.html


18 posted on 05/21/2016 2:10:12 AM PDT by AdmSmith (GCTGATATGTCTATGATTACTCAT)
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