Press-center

SE Plant “Electrotyazhmash” fully repaid wage arrears to employees for April and May 2020.

On Monday, June 22, a meeting of the labor collective with Viktor Busko, the Acting General Director of “Electrotyazhmash”, took place, where, in particular, the delay in paying 12.6% of wages for April and the full amount for May was discussed. Then the General Director of the Enterprise set the deadline for the expected repayment of the debt - by Wednesday, June 24.

 As of June 25, all these funds were paid. "Electrotyazhmash" fully paid all the due money to the labor collective of the Enterprise.

 “Despite an extremely difficult financial state of “Electrotyazhmash”, we are doing everything possible to fulfill the liabilities to the employees. This week, the wage arrears for the previous months were fully repaid. The opportunities for raising the wages and improving the working conditions at the Enterprise are currently being discussed”, - the Company notes.

 The opportunity to pay off debts to the labor collective appeared due to payment effected by JSC “Turboatom”, which obtained a credit and settled accounts with “Electrotyazhmash” under the previously concluded agreements.

 As previously reported, at the start of work of the new Management at the Plant, there were practically no funds on the accounts of “Electrotyazhmash”, even to ensure the operational activities of the Enterprise. During work of the previous Management, the debts amounting to over UAH 1 billion were accumulated, including a credit taken from the State Saving Bank of Ukraine. The payments for this credit were not effected for two years.

 The new Management is now working on removing “Electrotyazhmash” from the crisis state and concluding new contracts for delivery of our products.

On June 22, 2020, Viktor Busko, the Temporarily Acting General Director of State Enterprise Plant “Electrotyazhmash”, addressed to the State Property Fund of Ukraine, which manages this state-owned Enterprise, with a request to remove him from his position until the investigation of the prosecutor’s office is completed. Mr. Busko asked to impose the duties of the Acting General Director on Aleksey Viktorovich Bunesku, the Director of “Elektrotyazhmash” for Strategy and Marketing. Such decision of the “Electrotyazhmash” CEO is intended to ensure the objectivity of the investigation.

 “I ask you to temporarily remove me from my position for the period of the investigation, to provide its objectivity. And temporarily to impose the duties of the Acting General Director on Aleksey Viktorovich Bunesku, the Director of “Elektrotyazhmash” for Strategy and Marketing”, says the Mr. Busko’s statement sent to the Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. As a part of the prosecutor’s office investigation, on June 16, there were carried out at the Enterprise some searches with seizure of the documents. The reason for start of the investigation was the contract which was concluded in 2016 by the former management of the Company. The validity of this contract was twice the subject of investigation by law enforcement authorities, but the case did not reach the court.

 The new Management of the Company managed to increase the contractual prices for “Electrotyazhmash” products, which will allow the Company to receive an additional income. However, this fact, as well as the fact that the investigation concerns the accounting period not closed yet, which excludes the possibility of using objective data on the actual cost of products, indicates an attempt of certain financial and political groups to block the work of the Enterprise.

 “The removal of the CEO for the time investigation performed by law enforcement authorities is a worldwide practice. I took such a decision to guarantee the impartiality of the investigation, to provide conditions for cooperation with the investigation on the part of the Company and an objective assessment of our work in court. When the groundlessness of the charges will be proved, I will return to my work”, - Viktor Busko, the Acting General Director, commented.

The Management of “Electrotyazhmash” cooperates with the investigation in order to prove as soon as possible the groundlessness of the charges and continue normal work of the Enterprise.

A scheduled meeting of the Trade Union Committee with participation of Viktor Busko, the Acting General Director, took place at the Plant. The meeting was open: journalists from ATN, “Channel 5” and “Kharkov News” were also present here.

 At the meeting with the labor collective, Viktor Mikhaylovich noted that the wage arrears for April ‒ May were fully repaid.

 “Wage arrears are paid. Thus, the task number one is fulfilled. Now we are actively working to attract new orders for the Enterprise. I thank the whole team of the Plant for their work. I am sure that the difficulties soon will be a thing of the past, and “Electrotyazhmash” will develop further”, - Viktor Busko said.

After the dialogue with the employees, Viktor Busko, the Acting General Director, answered questions asked by the journalists. Among the main topics were loading of the Enterprise, plans for the future and, of course, privatization. 

“Preparing the Plant for privatization is one of our main tasks. The process of owner change shall be fair and transparent. The terms of privatization of the Enterprise shall not be made up for any particular investor, which sometimes is met in this process. The new owner shall fulfill a number of conditions: to retain jobs and social guarantees, not to change the profile of the Plant, annually allocate certain funds for modernization, etc. I think that the labor collective, the state and the investor will only benefit from privatization”, - Viktor Busko said.

 Viktor Mikhaylovich also added that in the financial plan of the Enterprise for the current year, there is provided for to assign about UAH 100 million for various investment projects: purchase of new equipment, improvement of working conditions and social amenities.

Also this day, Viktor Mikhaylovich met with Yurii Zdebskyi, People's Deputy from the electoral district No. 172 of Kharkov, which is a part of Industrialnyi District. The parliamentarian offered his support to the Enterprise.