A simple formula: "Transport is needed where there is a population, and the population is where there is production."
06/16/2021
Interview with an employee of a transport company in the city of Kargopol
Exactly 30 years have passed since the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The results of the restoration of capitalism in our country are very disappointing. The curtailment of social guarantees and the rights of workers, the collapse of industry and the desolation of cities and villages are a faithful companion of the "invisible hand of the market", which now controls our entire life.
The ancient city of Kargopol in the Arkhangelsk region did not escape the negative tendencies common for the post-Soviet space . The lack of jobs forced a significant part of the population to leave their hometown. So, in 1989, 12495 people lived in Kargopol , by 2020 the population of the city decreased to 9951 . The above problems inevitably led to the deterioration of the city's infrastructure, in particular transport.
The ROT FRONT editorial staff interviewed the driver of the Kargopolavtotrans company , which carries out passenger transportation in the city. The employee (we, for obvious reasons, do not publish his name) spoke about the state of the transport sector and working conditions at the MU ATP "Kargopolavtotrans".
- To begin with, please tell us a little about the company in which you work.
- The company was founded in 2005. The main activity is regular passenger transportation on municipal and inter-municipal routes. The number of employees of the enterprise is small - about 35 people .
- How much do workers get on average?
- Provided that the driver has worked the norm of hours, he will receive a minimum wage or a little more - 20-25 thousand rubles. Due to a shortage of personnel caused by low wages, drivers have to overwork. During processing, wages can reach 35,000 rubles. and higher. But, firstly, this does not in the best way affect road safety, and secondly, it negatively affects the health of the drivers themselves.
But even this earned money is not always possible to receive on time. Just now the labor conflict has entered the "hot phase" at the enterprise , caused by more than a two-month delay in wages. Read about it in the ROT Front article . - Ed.
- Because of the above, the question of whether you are satisfied with your salary disappears by itself ... What can you tell about your team, is it cohesive? Is there a trade union at the enterprise?
- The backbone of the enterprise is the drivers who have been working for quite some time. Most of the team is made up of people of retirement and pre-retirement age. Until 2013, there was a trade union. In the past year, there were attempts to create it again, but they were unsuccessful. At the moment, unfortunately, there is no trade union.
- There was information about a large shortage of conductors. Has it been liquidated?
- The question about conductors is as follows: the owner of the enterprise is the district administration; accordingly, financing comes from the district budget, where the deficit of funds is gigantic. The result of repeated appeals was the visit of the Deputy Minister of Transport of the Arkhangelsk Region to the enterprise. He promised to help the enterprise. But the allocation of funding was directly linked to the "optimization" of the state, as well as cutting the number of flights. The reaction of residents to the reduction in the number of flights was extremely negative, and the district administration (the customer of the transportation, as well as the owner of the enterprise) decided to leave everything as it is. None of the workers received notifications of layoffs either, so the conductors are working normally.
- What are the passengers most unhappy with?
- The greatest discontent was caused by the already announced proposal of the regional ministry of transport to reduce the number of flights. Then the public and some local deputies managed to defend the routes. Although there was an impression that the reason for criticizing the authorities was important for individual deputies, they, by and large, do not care about the problems of residents and enterprises.
Nevertheless, flights can sometimes be canceled for technical reasons: due to a shortage of drivers, as well as wear and tear of the car park. Traffic conditions can also cause buses to be late, but in most cases, passengers are sympathetic to this.
Solza village, Kargopol district. The bus to this village, like many others, calls in 3 times a week. Photo
- Is there a large passenger traffic in Kargopol?
- The passenger traffic is small, and every year it decreases. According to statistics maintained by the company, over 4 years the number of passengers has decreased by 15%, and in some areas - by more than 30%. There are many reasons for this: a decline in the population, an increased number of personal vehicles, the activity of illegal carriers, with which no one is fighting.
- Does Kargopolavtotrans earn something on its own, and if so, what share of the earned money before financing from the budget?
- The main activity (passenger transportation) is unprofitable. In this regard, the company is engaged in such activities as paid parking and technical inspection. They generate little income, but they do not cover losses from the main activity. As a result of the fact that the income from these types of activities is spent on covering losses, and not on updating the material and technical base, its condition now requires very serious investments. The rest is subsidies from the local budget. But they do not fully cover all losses.
Municipal bus on the streets of Kargopol. Photo
- Is the transport badly worn out? What condition are the cars in general?
- The general wear of equipment is 60-70%. Last year, under the program of co-financing from the regional and district budgets, two new buses were purchased. In 2016 and 2017, two more new buses were purchased. The rest are over 10 years old, there are buses that are 15-16 years old.
- What brands of buses are mainly used?
- Basically it is PAZ, and last year there was one new Gazelle. At the moment there is no alternative to “grooves” on rural routes, as the state of the roads leaves much to be desired.
- Kargopol is one of the oldest cities that has preserved the elements of ancient Russian architecture. Does the company operate tourist routes?
- Earlier, 10 years ago, they took tourists. Such transportation brought good profits. Now orders have become very few, as private traders have appeared who work mainly without a license, often neglecting security measures, thereby being able to offer a lower price.
Oshevenskoe village, Kargopol district. Photo
- What is the general situation with employment in Kargopol?
- Even 5 years ago, small and medium-sized sawmills existed in the city and nearby villages. But then large enterprises came along. Small proprietors were mostly left out of work, and people without work. After all, the owners of large enterprises are simply mowing forests and taking them out of the district, thus rendering the roads unusable, and they are not interested in creating jobs. They do not care about how people will live here, and even more so they do not care about some kind of public transport. With the existing socio-economic formation, public transport, like the entire population of small towns, is doomed to extinction.
- Do you consider the capitalist system to be the main culprit for the unsatisfactory state of the current transport infrastructure in small towns?
- Yes, because under the existing socio-economic structure, public transport does not fulfill its main task - the transportation of passengers. Now public transport, like everything around, is only a means of earning money. If there is a passenger flow, there is profit, which means that it is possible to update the fleet and try to comply with safety requirements - if, of course, there is a desire, and a decent wage can be paid. And if there is no passenger flow, then there is no traffic. And here it doesn't matter that the village is located 100 km from the regional center, and residents have no other way to get where they need to, for example, to a hospital.
There are, of course, private traders, but as experience shows, he keeps the prices for his services comparable to the cost of a trip by bus, until the moment when regular passenger transportation stops operating. As soon as a legal carrier leaves, the price tag of a private trader soars 3-5, or even 10 times. And it is often extremely difficult for a legal carrier to survive on routes that have a long, but low number of inhabitants in the settlements through which this route passes.
Dying villages as an integral part of the landscape are invariably present in the photoblog of every capital tourist who comes to admire the beauty of the Russian North. Photo
After all, the population of villages is steadily declining, young people are leaving due to lack of work. And for the remaining pensioners, the bus is the only way to get into the city.
Public transport is needed where there is a population, and the population is where there is production. Almost everything in our region has been destroyed, towns and villages are dying, and with them transport enterprises. If in Soviet times buses went from the city to every large village 3-4 times a day, now 2 times a week.
From the editor. Capitalism has once again shown its inability to meet the urgent needs of society, not to mention ensuring progressive development. In the socialist system, the workers built factories and factories with their own hands, developed state farms, which overgrown cities and towns with all the necessary infrastructure for life. Capitalism, on the other hand, destroys what was built by past generations, driving workers in search of work to overcrowded megacities so that they compete with each other for a place in low-skilled, low-paid positions.
The more workers, like our interlocutor, will realize the inferiority of the capitalist system, the faster we will build a better future.
https://www.rotfront.su/prostaya-formul ... -neobhodi/
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On the future of public transport: "There is no money, hold on and earn yourself"
06/16/2021
Results of the meeting of the team with the district administration
We continue to monitor the development of the labor conflict in the MU ATP "Kargopolavtotrans" located in the city of Kargopol, Arkhangelsk region . We remind you that the cause of the conflict was the delay in the payment of wages for more than 2 months. Desperate to get the money they earned in a different way, the drivers announced the suspension of work from June 16 - despite the fact that the decision was not easy for them: the company is the only passenger carrier in the region.
It is along such roads, broken by the trucks of companies engaged in logging and exporting timber, that school and municipal buses have to make their way to many villages in the district . Photo
The determination of the collective took effect: on June 15, representatives of the district administration met with the workers of the enterprise; the chairman of the meeting of deputies of the Kargopol municipal district was also present at the meeting. As a result of negotiations, the drivers agreed not to stop transportation for now. The district administration, which is the owner of the enterprise and at the same time the customer of transportation on municipal routes, has promised to allocate 1 million rubles to pay off wage arrears. That is, half of the debt accumulated at the moment, equal to 2 million... Regarding the rest, he suggested waiting for the "regional money". The decision on the allocation of funds will be considered at the session of the Arkhangelsk Regional Assembly on June 23, and it is not yet clear whether the funds will be allocated and in what amount.
"Allocated 21 million rubles - the recipient got 13 ..."
During the meeting, a representative of the administration said that, according to him, for the period from 2016 to 2020, the enterprise was allocated 21 million rubles and 16 pieces of equipment. In fact, subsidies have been allocated only since 2018, and in total during this period, the enterprise received 13 million. And of the 16 pieces of equipment that were announced, only 3 were new, while the rest were either rubbish, whose place is in the metal reception, or machines that had practically exhausted their resource. The difference in the figures of the allocated aid, it was assumed at the enterprise, arose because the administration calculated the cost of the acquired new equipment, and then counted the same buses again as 3 units of new equipment.
There are no clear plans: "We lived for a year and it was good ..."
The workers' question about what will happen to the enterprise next remained unanswered. As the first deputy head of the district (it was he who was the representative of the administration) said, he has no clear plans. “We have lived well for a year, and so on,” he said.
Also, the question about the state of the production base remained unanswered. The garage building has been in disrepair for several years. The company does not have funds for repairs. Overhaul should be carried out at the expense of the administration, estimates were even made, but that was the end of it. There is only one answer: "there is no money."
"There is no money, hold on and earn yourself"
There is no money in the budget of the district and for passenger transportation, therefore, both the administration and the deputies, represented by their chairman, once again advised to look for additional sources of income in other activities. Great advice from "effective" owners: the contractor is offered to earn money himself in order to compensate for the losses, because the customer has no money.
Among other things, the director of the enterprise raised the issue of personnel. The driver's staff is either already retired or workers who have very little left to retire. The main reason for the staffing problem is the level of wages. To the director's remark that the salary could not be raised without financing the transportation, and young people would not be able to work on the existing salary, he received the answer: "You are looking badly." The representatives of the administration quite sincerely consider the wages of 20-30 thousand rubles to be quite sufficient (as you know, the Kargopol administration is not alone in this). And they are also not very concerned about the fact that in addition to the lack of drivers, the company has no mechanics and mechanics at all. They believe that these specialists are not needed for such a volume of traffic. As a result, compliance with all regulatory requirements for the carriage of passengers becomes simply impossible.
A new meeting is scheduled for June 24th. Then it will be clear whether the regional leadership will allocate funding and to what extent. The workers have a lot of questions, but the owner's answers are the same: "There is no money, hold on and earn yourself."
https://www.rotfront.su/o-budushhem-mun ... ransporta/
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The governor of the Sverdlovsk region admitted the mistakes of optimization of healthcare
06/16/2021
And then what?
During his report to the Legislative Assembly of the Sverdlovsk Region, Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev acknowledged shortcomings in the optimization of Sverdlovsk medicine. As a result of the optimization, there was an outflow of specialists. Because of this, many patients could not get help during the peak of the disease. At the same time, the governor said that due to optimization, the health care of the subject entered a modern technical base. The governor said that it is necessary to work on the mistakes, and the health development program should focus on the availability and quality of medical services.
Optimization of healthcareAccording to the Office of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Regions, over 19 years, out of 228 hospitals, 75 were liquidated, and 280 out of 842 paramedic and accoucheur points were closed.
Although the authorities began to cautiously admit optimization errors, they do not say what the work on the errors will consist of. Obviously, if the pandemic has clearly shown the destructive role of optimization, then its fix should consist in eliminating them. This means that it is necessary to restore closed hospitals, increase the number of beds, and raise the number of doctors and nurses. All these indicators must be brought at least to the level of the previous optimization, and in the long term and surpass it. And the authorities should announce these specific measures, indicating the planned indicators and the timing of their achievement. But this is precisely what none of the officials, including the President, reports. All are limited to just words about "improvement and development" and the like.
It cannot be otherwise. The authorities are not going to cancel the optimization of healthcare, even admitting its shortcomings in words. The health pogrom was conceived to save money and commercialize the system, not to actually improve it. The pandemic revealed the disastrous consequences of the notorious reform for the working people. But no one plans to cancel it. That is why bureaucrats play around, admit shortcomings, promise improvements. Without concrete indicators, all such statements are idle chatter designed to confuse the working people.
A radical improvement in affairs is possible only if the workers themselves change the state of affairs in health care - for this it is necessary to fight for the strengthening of workers' organizations.
https://www.rotfront.su/gubernator-sver ... lasti-pri/
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