The labour union at Nerpa Yard on the Kola Peninsula has formed a strike committee and plans to go on strike on June 19, reports Murmansk daily Polyarnaya Pravda.
The Nerpa Yard salary debts to its 3075 employees has reached 5.8 million USD. The reason is lack of funding - Nerpa is working on state orders covering 70% of the yard's industrial capacity.
The manager of Nerpa has gone to Moscow several times, and almost succeeded in March when promised a 2.7 million USD transferral. But in reality only some 200,000 USD were actually transferred to Nerpa's accounts. The total debts of the state to Nerpa for salaries and works performed amount to some 24 million USD. At the labour union meeting on June 3, the manager could give no guarantees that the debts will be covered in the foreseeable future. This prompted the decision to go on strike on June 19.
Along with repair work on nuclear-powered submarines and conventional vessels of the Northern Fleet, Nerpa Yard is involved in nuclear-powered subs decommissioning operations. By the beginning of May a plasma torch for cutting subs' hulls was installed at Nerpa, having been delivered from the US as part of the arms reduction agreements.