Grodno Azot management claims man-made catastrophe inevitable unless sanctions are lifted
The management of Grodno Azot has prepared a collective appeal to the International Labor Organization. The plant administration forces the employees to sign it.
The forced collection of signatures responded to the enterprise’s inclusion in the fifth package of the EU sanctions, approved on December 2.
The appeal calls on the EU to negotiate and lift sanctions. Otherwise, they fear accidents and man-made disasters because of the old equipment. They believe it may threaten the neighboring countries and the entire region.
In 2021, news about emergency shutdowns at the plant has appeared more and more often. Workers complain of the old equipment, which has been in operation for many years without repair.
Earlier, the Prime Minister of Belarus Raman Halouchanka spoke about a possible man-made disaster. It was due to an unplanned stoppage of production because of the strike at Grodno Azot.
In 2021, Grodno Azot was repeatedly included in European and U.S. sanctions lists. The U.S. renewed its sanctions against the company in April 2021, while the Director of Grodno Azot Ihar Lyashenka fell under the U.S. sanctions separately. Because of the sanctions, the company is losing major investment projects: for example, German chemical distributor Helm AG refused to cooperate with Grodno Azot, and the project to build a new $1.2 billion nitrogen complex, where an Italian firm is a contractor, has been almost derailed.
The workers who refuse to sign the document are threatened with dismissal. At the same time, according to some information, Grodno Azot plans to sack “unreliable” employees. The dismissal lists include, for example, those who signed in favor of alternative candidates in the presidential election of 2020.
This is not the first attempt to collect signatures against the EU sanctions, which “do not work” and “strengthen the economy of Belarus.” In February, the company forced workers to sign a letter of a pro-government trade union to abolish European sanctions. The workers were threatened with potential problems, deprivation of bonuses and vouchers. However, many refused to sign anyway.
