‘SUBRstroy, the company that is expected to receive a certain amount of investment was switched to a four-day working week on January 19, 2009. I have spoken to the company’s head recently and have been told that this four-day mode is to last for six months. However, even when the workers go back to the five-day week, their pay is not going to rise,’ says the leader of UC RUSAL’s Severouralsk Bauxite Mine (SUBR) independent trade union Valeriy Zolotarev says.

‘SUBR itself has been operating on a five-day basis, but the workers find themselves unable to meet the deadlines because of the lack of equipment. No new machinery has been supplied onto the mine since October 2008 due to money shortage. In the meantime, to get their pay in full, the employees are expected to exceed the planned output volumes by 15% to 20%,’ he notes.