ST PETERSBURG, June 24 (Itar-Tass) - An indefinite strike that began at Ford Motor Company’s plant in Vsevolzhsk, the Leningrad region, early on Monday was suspended.
The plant’s leadership put forward new proposals in reply to workers’ demands, a trade union member Artyom Yashchenkov told Itar-Tass.
“Presently, workers are being interviewed whether they like the administration’s recent proposals. If they are satisfied, the strike will be stopped, if not - we will strike until we get what we want,” Yashchenkov said.
The trade union planned to hold the strike from June 24 to July 5, when the production will be closed for a summer break.
Workers demand higher wages, better working conditions, compensations of the harm to health and additional guarantees for layoffs.
The last round of talks on Sunday lasted 12 hours, the company’s trade union said.
“Undoubtedly, there were positive moments such as restrictions on precarious work or compensations equal to three-month salaries to workers fired for health reasons,” the chairman of Ford’s trade union, Alexander Kashitsin, told Itar-Tass. “But unfortunately, our main demands were rejected. The employer agreed to raise wages adjusted to the inflation rate plus 0.5 percent only from the beginning of next year and on Sunday refused to discuss this year’s wage increase.”