Belarusians mostly know the Vetka town in the Homiel region thanks to the museum of folk art. But Vetka dwellers mostly work in the industry – construction materials, light and food industries. More precisely – they worked there until recently. In the last year only, in the city went bankrupt 2 plants – milk and cotton spinning ones.
“Now, since cotton supply went down, the work became unprofitable, the factory became unprofitable,” said the dismissed worker of the cotton plant.
The cotton mill introduced 4-day working week, but the company does not produce anything, as it is in the bankruptcy stage. Part of the production area is leased, and about half of the one hundred and fifty former employees are employed there.
Factory, meanwhile, three years ago was considered one of the core enterprises. The dairy factory also closed down, it used to work in two shifts and sell products not only in the local market and Homiel, but also to Russia.
“The plant was closed, we were reconstructed. Certain firm from Rahachou is doing repair works, Vetka people have no place here. So we are all here in limbo. We look forward to the time when we can get jobs even as loaders or security,” said a former employee of the dairy plant Leanid Tatunkevich.
In general, in recent years, almost all of the city industry went bankrupt. There is almost no work in Vetka, according to locals.
Even the Charnobyl disaster, which left a lot of radionuclides in Vetka thirty years ago, was not so devastating for the region as the current economic policies and mismanagement of local authorities.
