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Lukashenko to trade unions:
“Forget the word politician”.
On July 7, 2000 Belarus President Loukashenko
held a teleconference on agricultural matters, with Alexander
Yaroshuk, Chairman of the Belarusl Trade Union of Agricultural
Workers, having the floor. The teleconference was broadcasted
for the whole country. There the President changed his opinion
concerning the trade union leader, previously disgraced.
Alexander
Bukhvostov, Chairman of the Belarus Automobile and
Agricultural Machinery Workers’ Union, described the
situation in the following way:
“Mr. Loukashenko was speaking as if he was
unaware of all actions against Mr. Yaroshuk, and as if
everything had been done without him being informed.
Loukashenko advised Yaroshuk not to enter any political games
undertaken by the Belorussian Trade Union Federation and some
its leaders. He also approved Yaroshuk’s standpoint and
encouraged him not to be scared because, as President, was
informed that Mr.Yaroshuk had won in a fare race. Further,
President nominated Yaroshuk his own representative in the
Agrarian sector. At the same time, President openly expressed
irritation in respect of other trade union leaders, making
especially insulting remarks about Mr. V. Goncharik, Chairman
of the Trade Union Federation, Belarus. Mr. Goncharik earlier
published an Open
Letter to President Loukashenko, urging the latter
to present his apologies”.
The full text of the teleconference notes is
at our disposal now, and we would like to make several
quotations from Belarus President Aleksandr Loukashenko:
The President about politics:
“ There is only one politician in the
country. Only one politician. I have been telling it to all of
you for years. And this is President. He has not requested
political assistance and support. Trade unions is an
apolitical organization. Michail Vladimirivich, you are not a
political institution. Forget the word “politician”. You
must fulfill your functions related to wages, food supplies
and clothes. This is the main concern of trade unions. This is
the way it is done at the shop-floor level.”
The President about trade unions:
“Don’t make heroes out of them. Let them
go to the peasants and explain why they failed to provide
working clothes and hot meals in time. You see, President by
the Constitution must deliver hot meals to the people, while
some trade union do not bother. Let our shop-floor
organizations do it.”.
The President about the economics and
agricultural reform:
“And the objective of any agricultural
reform is to motivate a peasant to have more cattle and to
cultivate more land. If you fail to buy six kilos of milk from
each cow, there is no motivation to take more land and cows
and produce six liters of milk. In case they had three cows,
it means already 18 liters. It is two buckets they will have
to carry. That‘s the reform.
And you say, Goncharik will speak on TV
swallowing his tears, I beg your pardon, speaking about sort
of distorted agricultural relations. Chatterboxes.”
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