Workers' takeover of "Kherson Machine-Building Plant" LLC (former "Kherson Combines" OJSC)

Many media outlets are already talking about what happened, and many people are already discussing it. I'll have my say too — the plant does mean something to me, after all: my parents worked there their whole lives, and I've been there more than once, did my university internship there in my second year…

In the news, as always, the information isn't entirely complete. They write about a specific amount of debt, although the workers say that at the end of December 5 million UAH came to the plant, but nobody saw the money, because afterwards the management resigned, leaving everyone else with nothing. If we're talking about the debt, the amount should be larger, and the debts of the disbanded "Kherson Combines" OJSC haven't been paid out yet either, and now they're planning to disband the current plant, turning it into some kind of firm. On top of that, they want to lay off the workers retroactively, which will cause them problems with the labor exchange.

What's interesting is that right after the takeover the power went out in the building, and the correspondent on site can't get in touch with the outside world — they say that even his laptop started smoking, I don't know how true that is. All I know is that the design engineers were let go before lunch due to the lack of electricity; according to the management's official version there was a malfunction, but it somehow strangely coincided with the takeover… And the design engineers had already been back at work since last week, and they were at least doing something without any guarantees that they'd be working a month from now or that they'd at least get something for their work, but at least they were given some hope. Now everyone will be out of work again. At least the workers managed to achieve something — maybe some good will come of it, and things won't only get worse, like they did after the last two big revolutions in 1991 and 2004.

There's more to come tomorrow; right now they're already calling around and gathering the remaining staff who weren't there today, perhaps some sympathizers will join in as well…

P.S. Story on Yandex.News and a regularly updated list of news on the topic: http://chapeye.livejournal.com/540439.html