Putin expresses concern about growing salary arrears in the country

Russian Journal ^ | February 04, 2004

[RussianConservative]

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin has called for severe measures against heads of enterprises that do not pay their employees’ salaries on time. At a meeting with Labor Minister Alexander Pochinok on Feb. 3, Putin asked pointed questions, including why the whole complex of legal measures in Russian regulations, including the Labor Code, is not being used against such managers. He commissioned the Labor Ministry to monitor the situation with salaries in the country and.

In form of an explanation, Pochinok noted that it’s only most bankrupt and/or fly-by-night companies — which number about 300,000 in the country — that don’t pay salaries on time. “The Tax Ministry seeks cannot find managers of these companies, most of which stopped their activities long ago and/or are trying to avoid fulfilling their obligations to employees”.

The most worrying sectors include coalmines regions, where workers remain unpaid due to the closure of their mining facilities. “One of such towns is Novoshakhtinsk. This is the most threatening place to us,” Pochinok was quoted by Izvestia as saying. He also noted that the General Prosecutor’s Office had been involved in the fight against companies’ directors who do not pay their employees on time.

Pochinok assured that his ministry will try to solve the problem, but noted that the situation is not as pathetic as it used to be in the past. For comparison, he said about 20 million people did not receive their salaries on time at the beginning of 2000, while only 4,2 million have yet to receive their salaries in January 2004.