Belarusian railway workers face layoff due to sanctions?
In early March 2023, representatives of the Commonwealth of Belarusian Railway Workers, citing their sources, said that Belarusian Railways was considering dismissing many employees (a figure of 8,000 people is mentioned). However, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Belarus hurried to refute this information, calling it “information stuffing”.
Who informed about possible layoffs in the Belarusian Railways?
The “Community of Railway Workers of Belarus” is an alternative source of information and covers important events related to the railway industry, which the country’s authorities prefer to keep quiet. Therefore, according to this media resource, the situation with personnel at the Belarusian Railways remains disappointing and is associated with a significant decrease in income from the main activities of the Belarusian Railways.
“The financial results in all types of transport (except for passengers, a priori unprofitable) are a clear confirmation of the upcoming layoffs”, say the authors of the material note and claim that there is an indication of reducing the number of employees in the railway industry in Belarus by at least 8 thousand people.
The need for this optimization is explained, among other things, by the growing sanctions pressure on Belarus, which has already led to a significant reduction in the transit of goods to the EU and the closure of one of the railway checkpoints on the border with Lithuania to freight traffic. In addition, the Polish side is increasingly announcing the possible closure of freight traffic with Belarus.
The “Community of Belarusian Railway Workers” draws attention to the fact that not only employees of the Belarusian Railways who participated in the protests after the 2022 presidential elections, but also quite loyal workers can be fired. It is claimed that they will be caught in any misconduct in order to find a formal reason for dismissal.
On the railroad – understaffing and loyalty checks
The Belarusian Ministry of Transport and Communications, which includes Belarusian Railways, responded promptly to reports of allegedly planned mass layoffs at the railway. They called the aforementioned publication “stuffing with information”, which does not correspond to reality.
“The main task of Belarusian Railways is to meet the needs of society and the economy in transporting passengers and goods, as well as preserving the workforce,” said the Ministry of Transport, urged to use only official sources of information. . .
By the way, the latest official information on the number of employees at the Belarusian Railways dates back to September 2022. At that time, it was reported that about 63 thousand people worked in the structure of the Belarusian Railways.
New data has not appeared since then, but, having studied the current database of the state employment service, we can conclude that there is a shortage of personnel in the Belarusian Railways. At the same time, in the vast majority of cases, potential employees receive a salary of less than 1,000 Belarusian rubles (330 euros in equivalent).
On the other hand, job applicants are often required not to have been fired “due to discrediting circumstances” in their previous employment. Some job advertisements explicitly state that future railway workers need to be interviewed and checked by the police.
Railway workers are asked about the war in Ukraine
Not only job seekers, but also active Belarusian railway workers are being tested for loyalty. One of them confirmed this on condition of anonymity to DW. “If someone hasn’t been summoned to the authorities in recent years, they are now,” says the caller. “I don’t know how it is in other places, here everything happens formally: conversations are “for life” and in a friendly way, they don’t ask for anything. Do not participate suspiciously, do not be active on social networks: they say, well-known services monitor everyone.
The railwayman explained that now the personnel services of the Belarusian Railways are worried not about the fact of the participation of employees in the protests after the 2020 elections, but about the current attitude to the war in Ukraine: “They are very interested in what people think about happenings in the neighboring country. Especially since the work of our section was largely linked to the Ukrainian direction – both passenger and freight traffic.”
According to the man, with the lack of movement of passenger trains to all foreign countries, except Russia, Belarusian Railways have already got used to it: it is impossible to leave by train to Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine since the pandemic of coronavirus was announced. But the likelihood of a complete cessation of cargo transport to EU countries is very worrying. “Now only these transports “feed” the railroad: without them it is not possible to talk not only about development, but simply about keeping the infrastructure in a normal state”, believes the railroad worker.
What will happen to the transit of goods from China to the EU?
Official statistics that would release indicators of rail freight traffic in Belarus are no longer in the public domain. But the existing problems can be judged by the statements of senior officials. So, the Minister of Transport Aleksey Avramenko admitted that in 2022 the Belarusian Railways lost about 30% of the transit cargo passing through the country’s territory. The reason for this was the sanctions imposed by the European Union. “I’ll be honest, we have little influence here, and today the task is to ensure the export of Belarusian export cargo by any means,” Avramenko said at the Ministry of Transport college.
However, now the headache for Belarusian railways has become not only the export of domestic products for export, but also the future of container transport along the “Europe – China” route through Belarus. As a former employee of the Belarusian Railways, who asked not to be identified, admitted in a comment to DW, the management of this structure and the Ministry of Transport prefer to be very careful when commenting on the situation of Chinese exports to the EU.
“This is a sensitive subject, and a limited circle of people is devoted to the real state of affairs: a lot of money is spinning there and a lot of deals behind the scenes,” the source said. He recalls how, in the fall of 2022, the news that the first container train from China to Europe passed through Belarus in a single time slot was met with great enthusiasm. “At the time, I was working in Brest and participated in this project, which significantly reduced the processing time for cargo traveling from the Chinese city of Xi’an to Duisburg, Germany,” said a former employee of the Belarusian Railways. But now, in his opinion, sanctions can affect Belarusian transit, and the consequences of this measure will be unpredictable.
Source: DW
Anna White is a journalist at 247 News Reel, where she writes on world news and current events. She is known for her insightful analysis and compelling storytelling. Anna’s articles have been widely read and shared, earning her a reputation as a talented and respected journalist. She delivers in-depth and accurate understanding of the world’s most pressing issues.