Business is fighting for employees - Newspaper Kommersant No. 178 (7379) of 09/27/2022

Business is fighting for employees - Newspaper Kommersant No. 178 (7379) of 09/27/2022



Agro-producers have joined the struggle to retain personnel against the backdrop of the partial mobilization announced in Russia. Industry associations are asking the Ministry of Agriculture to help provide a deferment for workers, highlighting the risks of disrupting the harvest campaign, fruit shortages and rising prices. Manufacturers of building materials turned to the government with a similar request, where in the first days entire workshops were mobilized. They fear that the military conscription will affect highly qualified specialists who are difficult to find replacements. Experts hope that the authorities will further regulate the legal relations on mobilization so that certain sectors of production do not stop working.

apple trees in the rear

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the letter of the Chairman of the Association of Nurseries and Horticulturalists of the Stavropol Territory, Aidyn Shirinov, dated September 23 to the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev, with a request to “assistance” in granting a delay in the mobilization of workers in the industry.

The appeal says that the mobilization of workers employed in the industrial nursery and horticulture industries will lead to the disruption of the harvesting campaign and disruption of the technological cycle of production. Modern horticulture is a continuous cycle, from growing seedlings to processing products, and a shortage of specialists threatens to disrupt deliveries at all stages, the letter said. The Ministry of Agriculture did not provide a comment.

As Aidyn Shirinov told Kommersant, workers who are almost impossible to replace can fall under the mobilization: agronomists, hydraulic engineers, plant protection specialists, engineers. According to him, it is necessary to make an exception for horticulture, since the industry has not achieved self-sufficiency indicators. Russia provides itself with only 40% of apples, instead of the established 60-70%, explains Mr. Shirinov.

According to him, the shortage of personnel may lead to a suspension of investments, a decrease in fruit production and an increase in prices as early as next year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2022 the harvest of berries and fruits in the Russian Federation can grow from 1.4 million to 1.5 million tons.

Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization in Russia on 21 September. It should cover 300 thousand reservists, primarily with the necessary military specialties and combat experience. It is planned to release employees of the defense industry, information technology and a number of other industries from partial mobilization.

Kommersant's interlocutors in the vegetable production market indicate that it is also almost impossible to replace specialists in this industry. According to Kommersant's sources, now the situation is especially complicated by the ongoing harvesting, so a delay is required at least until the completion of seasonal work. Some specialists are actually “taken right from the field,” says the interlocutor of Kommersant in a large agricultural holding.

Kommersant's interlocutor in the meat industry fears that a prolonged absence of highly qualified specialists from the workplace could lead to serious production disruptions. In his opinion, it would be logical at the first stage to create not a list of specific people who are not subject to mobilization, but a list of critical positions in the structures. According to one of Kommersant's interlocutors, the Ministry of Agriculture "is trying to minimize the risks for the industry, but the process is slow and so far without a visible effect."

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Rusprodsoyuz (including Mistral Trading, Russol, Dymov, Makfa, May) Dmitry Leonov considers it wrong to extend immunity from conscription or give deferments completely to some sectors. But it would be quite reasonable to keep the head and determine a certain number of irreplaceable employees from the total number according to the lists submitted from the enterprises of the agro-industrial complex, the food and processing industry, it would be quite reasonable, he admits.

Construction industry without personnel

In addition to representatives of the agro-industrial complex, the National Association of Manufacturers of Building Materials and the Construction Industry (NOPSM) is asking the authorities to grant a deferment from mobilization to employees with rare and high-tech specialties and who are registered with the military. On September 23, the organization sent a corresponding appeal to Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin.

The head of the NOPSM, Alexander Ruchev, explained to Kommersant that this appeal was drawn up at the numerous requests of construction industry enterprises. In the office of Mr. Khusnullin and the Ministry of Construction did not respond to a request from Kommersant.

In a letter to the vice-premier, the NOPSM claims that enterprises producing building materials are faced with the problem of conscripting highly qualified specialists for military service, which jeopardizes the production process, including backbone enterprises.

A similar letter was sent to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov by the Association of Pipeline Systems Manufacturers (APTS). APTS General Director Vladislav Tkachenko recalls that industry enterprises, including pipe products and products for the needs of the housing and communal services sector, provide supplies under the state defense order, implement national projects, take part in the gasification program for the regions of the Russian Federation and in federal construction programs, which, without qualified personnel, can be thwarted.

In addition, the heating season is ahead, and an accident at water supply and heat supply enterprises will lead to a halt in the functioning of all systems, he adds. The Ministry of Industry and Trade did not respond to Kommersant's request.

“We receive reports that entire workshops of the enterprise for the production of pipeline systems are leaving for mobilization,” Vladislav Tkachenko told Kommersant. The construction industry has already begun to lose staff, as many employees responsible for the implementation of large projects left their jobs, fearing mobilization, adds Maxim Leshchev, managing partner of the Meta group.

“A significant part of the employees of our enterprises meet the selection criteria for the first wave of mobilization, and their appeal may force the company to stop production, as it will not be possible to quickly find a replacement,” says Rafael Zohrabyan, general director of Saint-Gobain Construction Products Rus LLC (a manufacturer of building materials). . Under such conditions, production will begin to lose profitability, Vladislav Tkachenko believes.

The mobilization of employees of construction companies, as reported by the Ministry of Construction on September 23, will be "carried out in a general manner." They argue that the industry "has formed a significant potential to continue the construction of planned facilities and maintain the dynamics of housing commissioning." However, the pandemic also dealt a serious blow to the personnel potential of the construction industry - the industry has not coped with this so far, co-owner of the Rodina group Vladimir Shchekin objects.

A further reduction in professional staff will inevitably lead to a slowdown in the pace of implementation, including key projects and a drop in their quality, warns Marina Shcherbakova, General Director of RKS Development. Now it takes three to six months to design one house, and if some of the designers leave, the timeframe can increase up to a year, emphasizes Dmitry Sofronov, commercial director of DARS Development.

Maxim Leshchev adds that in large construction companies, highly qualified personnel are involved in most of the processes, the transfer of which to another employee will take a lot of time, which can increase the timeframe for project implementation. Often, complex equipment and machinery is used in production, on which specialists have been trained for more than one year, and many companies use technologies that require serious special knowledge, Alexander Ruchev agrees.

Dmitry Gorbunov, a partner at Rustam Kurmaev & Partners law firm, believes that in any case, sooner or later, government agencies will come to the need to further regulate legal relations on mobilization so that certain sectors of production do not stop working. In the meantime, the lawyer believes, the initiative is in the hands of market participants.

Alexey Polukhin, Daria Andrianova



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