Cummins stops cooperation with BelAZ

The Belarusian Automobile Plant (BelAZ) workers were marching through the city as a sign of solidarity and support to the striking workers and victims of police brutality. Their route went from the main entrance of the enterprise through the alley of street lamps in Prospekt Mira, and 50 let Kastrychnika street to the Green store. During the action, BelAZ workers voiced their demands to the management of the plant and the authorities. People chanted, “Go away!”, “Take Lukashenka to the police van!” and “Long Live Belarus! Zhodzina, Belarus. August 26, 2020.

Photo: AG/Belsat

The U.S. corporation Cummins, one of the main suppliers of engines for BelAZ, has reported ceasing cooperation with BelAZ.

The corporation’s representatives recently wrote to the Professional Union of Belarusians of Great Britain (PUBB) that they “do not send any products to BelAZ or its dealers.”

This position is the result of EU sanctions and intensive lobbying by NGOs and Belarusian diasporas, including PUBB, which first approached Cummins almost a year ago, in September 2020, over the violations of workers’ rights and repression at the Zhodzina plant.

BelAZ was included in the EU sanctions because, among other things, BelAZ employees who participated in strikes and peaceful protests after the rigged August 2020 elections in Belarus were threatened with dismissal and intimidated by company management.

In June, it emerged that the world-renowned Rolls Royce Group, which is the main engine supplier to BelAZ, stopped all operations with the Belarusian enterprise through its German subsidiary MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH.

In July, German, Danish, and Japanese companies also reported that they had stopped cooperating with BelAZ and the Belarusian Steel Works.

belsat.eu