Workers at Lithuania's nitrogen fertiliser plant Achema are launching an indefinite strike on Tuesday, demanding that the management sign a collective agreement.
Birutė Daškevičienė, chairwoman of Achema's trade union, told BNS on Monday evening that about 600 people, or almost half of the company's workforce, were expected to take part in the strike action scheduled to start at 08:00 on Tuesday.
Read more: Strike planned at Lithuania’s chemical behemoth Achema
“The strike will continue until a collective agreement is signed,” she said.
Achema CEO Ramūnas Miliauskas said on Tuesday morning that the company was not planning to close down the plant in Jonava, in central Lithuania, during the strike.
“We will not halt production, and if we have to, it will be done safely,” he told LRT Radio.
Ahead of the strike, Miliauskas refused to sign a collective agreement, and the union's representative said workers would strike indefinitely.
The company said earlier that it had increased the wage bill for 2021, created an additional bonus fund, and promised a 3.5-percent pay rise for production staff. The management calls the union leaders' activities destructive.
Meanwhile, Achema's workers demand that remuneration system be spelled out in the collective agreement, so that the company cannot change pay at will. Moreover, they call for wage indexation and clear rules on overtime.
Currently, about 37 percent of Achema's 1,300 employees are members of the trade union.
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