Belarus Goes Back to Serfdom: New Law Forbids the Factory Workers to Quit Their Jobs.

Belarus has introduced a partial serfdom. President Lukashenko forbade the workers of some plants in the forest industry to quit their jobs. He expects this ban to help with the modernization of these facilities.

Lukashenko told about this initiative this Friday (November 30) while visiting the factory in Borisov. This is one of eight woodworking companies undergoing modernization. Overall, the factories in Ivatsevichy, Borisov, Vitebsk, Gomel, Mosty, Rechytsa, Mogilev and Mozyr employ about 10,000 people. According to the program of modernization, all of these plants had to be profitable by now. But so far only one shop in Ivatsevichy has been launched.

- Prepare the decree: until the end of the modernization and reconstruction of these enterprises all layoffs are prohibited. Employee can not resign from the company without the chief manager’s permission. If freed – s/he can go, if not – must continue working. For violations – forced labor. Quit the job – forced labor at exactly the same place, – said Alexander Lukashenko. – All layoffs are strictly forbidden from December 1.

For those who badly want to leave their workplace, there is one way out: to get the permission from a governor.

- The final decision will be made by governors. But as a rule, neither employees, nor directors should resign before the end of upgrades. Keep in mind, we will be further accused in dictatorship, – said Lukashenko.

The local trade union branch explains the high turnover of employees at these plants by the natural causes.

- These enterprises have difficult working conditions, the salaries are low (around $ 300, which is below the national average). The closer to Minsk [ed" capital], the more difficult is the situation, people resign. In small towns, where there are no work places, they remain in the factories. Modernization period is always hard, people don’t want to give their all for such money. We don’t know how this mechanism (prohibiting workers to leave) will work.

According to the Belarusian labor code the employee and employer are tied by either an employment agreement or a contract. Under the employment agreement the worker can resign with a month notice. But if awarded the contract, the employee is obliged to finish the full term. Contracts cannot be longer than five years.

- We are in shock. Under the current legislation we cannot force a man to stay at work, moreover – send to forced labor, – says the director of one wood-processing plant. – Most likely, all employees will be transferred to long-term contracts.

The leader of the Belarusian independent trade union movement, Gennadiy Fedynich thinks that the absurd ban may well be introduced by a new law.

- In Belarus everything is possible. Of course, this is illegal. It’s more like the martial law, when workers could not leave the factory, they only could switch the bosses. But have we really arrived to the state of war? People need the salaries to be raised to at least $ 800. Then there will be a queue of willing to work. And we need to modernize the companies for real. Currently, the management wants to make upgrades with limited budgets, on account of people who are held as hostages. It will end in tears.

By the way, the possibility of forced labor is written in the Belarusian constitution. According to the Article 41 of the Main Law the “forced labor is prohibited, except for work or service per court decision, or in accordance with the law of emergency state and martial law.”