Creamery warehouses are full and workers have been out of work for three weeks.
Five years ago, when the Buda-Kashalyova creamery celebrated the seventieth anniversary, the local press reported that three-quarters of enterprise’s products go to Russia, and only a quarter is sold in Belarus. It is unknown how products are distributed now, but today the factory warehouses are packed with cheese, and workers have been on leave at their own expense for the third week.
Most Buda-Kashalyova creamry workers have been ‘resting’ since early December. True, it is not on their initiative – the Buda-Kashalyova branch of the Rahachou Dairy Plant ceased to process milk.
“It happened at the beginning of the month, maybe even earlier,” said the guard.
The majority of the people whose work was related to the production, were sent on ‘vacation,’ and some go to work at the parent enterprise in Rahachou.
“We are ‘resting’ at our own expense, we get sent to Rahachou. To get there, you need to wake up early, at five. We come back at half past five, we see no children or family. It is the same thing in Rahachou… half of us was sent home, they said that there is no work,” says factory worker Zhanna.
Employees are hoping that starting from the new year the plant will start work, but there is no certainty.
“We were told to ‘rest’ at own expense until December 31. Rumors are that on the 31st we may start working again. And then we’ll see,” continues Zhanna.
The factory staff refused to comment on the situation, referring to the fact that everything is decided at the head office in Rahachou. The Rahachou officials, after a long deliberation, directed us to the Deputy Director of the production, who was not available, because … he was at the production site.
Employees believe that there is no work, because of the fact that warehouses are packed with products planned for Russia.
The Rahachou dairy plant, of which the Buda-Kashalyova plant is a branch is one of five Belarusian companies, that, according to Rosselkhoznadzor, has quality issues and which stopped delivering products to Russia on the seventh of December.
So far Buda-Kashalyova workers have been surviving the best they can.
Like in the majority of Belarusian towns, there is no work in Buda-Kashalyova. And if the creamery stops completely, the army of unemployed will get about two hundred more people, who are now considered to be employees of the company
