Zvezda yard employees received salaries for November ’96

On June 30, 300 angry and desperate workers of Zvezda yard blocked the Trans-Siberian railway for several hours. As a result, the state allocated 1.8 million USD to cover some 10% of the total salary debts. Another 1.8 million USD is expected in the near future. Other than this, yard manager Valeriy Maslakov could say nothing about schedules for money delivering.

Zvezda yard is involved with repair and decommissioning of nuclear powered submarines. Located in the town of Bolshoy Kamen, a town put up around and because of the yard, the yard was at the focus of a referendum held in the town on the question of whether a US manufactured liquid radioactive waste processing facility should be put into operation. The referendum resulted in refusal of the facility by a huge majority. Observers claim that the workers voted against in order to express their protest against the social conditions established at the yard.