BSF Building Dept refuses to repay a 2-year wage arrears for Ukrainian employees

12.10.2010 Russia's Black Sea Fleet (BSF) Building Dept refuses to redeem a 2-year wage arrears to its Ukrainian employees, reports New Sevastopol citing electrician Vladimir Shepelev, initiator of a picket in Sevastopol.

"We haven't got our money for constructed buildings at Kazachya Harbor, Nikolai Muzyka Str., Kesayev Str., and Stepanenko Str. While we were working, BSF officials took 100% payments from building owners in advance. Consequently, the houses are uncompleted, and BSF Building Dept has not paid us wages. In fact, there is an office at 13, Nakhimova Str. which fraudulently gathers money from apartment owners. By conducting this picket, we want make the Russian military obey Ukrainians' constitutional right to have wages", said Vladimir Shepelev.

Vladimir Shepelev added that within the last 1.5 years he had "personally and repeatedly emailed to administration of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin describing the situation".

"They answered that my requests had been turned over to Russian procuracy. Then the chain goes from General Procuracy to BSF Military Procuracy located in Sevastopol. I went there and was told that "the Building Dept is registered in Ukraine's corporate entities list, so it's the Ukrainian enterprise". The conclusion is that BSF Procuracy will not deal with this problem", Vladimir Shepelev said.

The picket initiator said that BSF Building Dept will be "intentionally bankrupted to disclaim liability and buy huge territories occupied by two Russian military plants in Sevastopol for trifling sums as a debt".

Vladimir Shepelev also said that the picketers (about 60 persons took part in the protest action) support friendly relations with Russia. However, they do not need explanations of BSF officials, because "Russian military will lie just like it has been doing for two years, said the leader of picketers.

Participants of the action said they wanted to meet with the mayor of Sevastopol to describe the problem; they hope that the mayor would inform Ukrainian president about the coming bankruptcy of BSF Building Dept.

All picketers are in despair, added Vladimir Shepelev. That is why they are ready for a termless protest actions and even for a hunger-strike.

We recall that none of BSF officials has met with the picketers so far; neither do representatives of Sevastopol city administration.

However, no later than in three hours, answering the question who is finally the owner of BSF Building Dept, Sevastopol mayor Valery Saratov said that "the department was headed by a Russian colonel, so it's contradictory to assert that this company is within Ukraine's jurisdiction".

Valery Saratov promised to ask this problematic question to BSF Commander VADM Vladimir Korolev.