On April 9, at OJSC “BSW – management company of “BMC” holding” a reporting conference of the primary trade union organization was held, which currently unites 16,293 employees of the company, its unitary enterprises and non-working pensioners. Results of the implementation of measures of the collective agreement for 2020 were summed up and amendments to the collective agreement for 2021 - 2024 were adopted at the large-scale forum.

Traditionally, company’s General Director, Dmitriy Korchik, addressed the delegates of the conference with a detailed report on BSW performance results in 2020. After greeting the participants, Director noted that the past year went down in the history of BSW, the country and the whole world as the year of counteraction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

- The virus has not only changed our usual life, but also approaches to work organization. We have accepted this challenge, and I think we have coped with it. Our company has quickly adapted to new conditions, which is confirmed by our performance results. Specifically, in 2020, the breakeven operation of the company was ensured. Furthermore, the share of innovative products in the total volume of shipments amounted to more than 23%. This high level shows that the company has not stopped in its development. Our main tasks were to find additional sources of funding, use the production capacities to the maximum and increase sales revenue, - said Dmitriy Korchik. - The most difficult period in 2020 was the 2nd quarter. Nevertheless, BSW managed to retain its main export markets. The European direction remains the key for the company. Its share in export deliveries in value terms was 52 percent. In 2020, deliveries of long structural steel to the EU countries for the automotive industry significantly increased - an increase of more than 30% in volume terms compared to the same period in 2019. Deliveries to Austria increased significantly (over 30%), more than doubled - to Slovenia, Finland, France. Sales volumes to African countries increased significantly: Ghana, Benin, Kenya, Cameroon, Mali and Tunisia, to the countries of the Middle East - Israel, Turkey. In the Asia region, the growth in shipments increased to Singapore. It is important to note that the work carried out in the subdivisions to reduce the production costs made it possible to obtain an economic effect in the amount of more than 89 million roubles, which amounted to 3.4% of the production cost.

As General Director noted in his speech, BSW retained its positions in the main commodity markets and in the second half of 2020 ensured a positive trend in key performance indicators and started to work profitably at the end of the year. This allowed the company to fulfill all social obligations to the team. First of all, the obligation to provide employees with a decent level of income was fulfilled. Specifically, the average monthly nominal wage paid at BSW in 2020 amounted to 1,501.5 roubles. And the achieved ratio of the growth rates of labor productivity and the growth rates of wages, subject to the performance of production and economic indicators in the current year, gave rise to a phased increase in wages from March 1, 2021, the tariff rate of the first category was increased by 5%.at BSW.

Investments of the company in the social sphere were significant last year, the volume of which amounted to almost 12 million roubles. Of these, more than 5 million were directly allocated to the maintenance of social facilities, 6.7 million roubles were directed to payments stipulated in the collective agreement. This involves additional payments to pensions, health improvement of children, payments of an acute social nature and others.

Investments in labor protection became a separate important column of the company's expenses, which increased by 13.5% last year and amounted to more than 4 million roubles.

Some important social projects were also implemented. Specifically, in May 2020, a house with 80 apartments, built for BSW employees, was commissioned.

As noted above, one of the main challenges for the BSW team in 2020 was the organization of uninterrupted work in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. Thanks to a set of measures aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, as well as the work of doctors of the company's medical unit, the infection rate among BSW employees, even during peak periods, did not threaten the smooth operation of the company and the fulfillment of obligations taken to customers. One of the forms of support for the team in the difficult period of the pandemic was the conclusion of an insurance contract by the company, which allowed the company’s employees to receive financial assistance in the event of an illness caused by COVID-19. (The amount of insurance payments depends on the severity of the disease and can reach up to 1000 rubles).

- In conclusion, I would like to say that we gained vast experience last year, which will help us to work even more efficiently. I would like to thank the staff for their support and professional work, - said General Director.

The chairman of the BSW trade union committee, Alexander Koleda, informed the conference delegates about how the BSW trade union committee worked in 2020 on the implementation of the collective agreement. In his report, he described in detail the measures for each section of the collective agreement, noting that all of its clauses were fulfilled, all legal guarantees were observed.

- Thanks to trade union dues for the reporting period, we were able to provide financial assistance to the company’s employees in the amount of over 368 thousand roubles. More than 449 thousand roubles were spent on organizing mass cultural and other events. And these are just a few areas of our work. The implementation of the collective agreement is constantly under close scrutiny of both the administration and the trade union committee, and it is very important that the company’s trade union unites like-minded people. This union serves the common interests of the company’s employees, allows them to do good deeds, to support socially important initiatives, - summed up his speech Alexander Koleda.

After hearing and discussing the reports and speeches of the delegates, the conference passed a resolution to adopt amendments to the collective agreement for 2021-2024; a commission was elected and approved to monitor the implementation of the collective agreement measures.

The conference was attended by Head of the Metallurgy Department of the Automotive Engineering and Metallurgy Department of the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Belarus Andrey Girzhon, the chairman of the Belarusian Trade Union of Industrial Workers "BELPROFMASH" Valeriy Kursevich, the chairman of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee Gennadiy Solovey, the chairman of the Zhlobin Regional Executive Committee Alexander Grigorenko.