November

2000

From the editors

Dear businessmen!

November 23, 2000 a one-day preventive all-republican strike of the businessmen is held. The notice about the strike is sent in the bodies of state power and control.

As to 17.11.2000 more than 30 cities of the Republic of Belarus including, all regional centres and Minsk have agreed to support the strike. It is very important that this strike should be amicable. As the practice shows the main reprisals against the businessmen take place there where there are no our structural divisions or they are still very weak.

Therefore we are ready to help you create own trade unions. Do not wait until you «are push to a wall» by a tax or other check. It is late to drink "Borzhomy" when the kidneys have refused. It is necessary today to create trade-union and other organisations, informational - legal centres for the businessmen. There where lawyers and active businessmen are, it is almost always possible to cancel the sanctions or to lower the fines to a minimum.

There will be black sheep during the strike. Some even will be paid if they trade this day. What should we do? For the beginning they should be written down in a special list (surname, number of a trade place, number of the testimony, address of the place of residence, UNN and tax body in which they are registered). Then we shall ask tax and other bodies, centres of protection of the rights of a customer for the appropriate check of activity of these black sheep in written form. Do not forget as a customer to ask them for certificates, registration in the customs and etc. If there are no appropriate documents, ask a militiaman to write out a protocol «About breaches of rules of trade».

When the militiaman refuse to make up the protocol, then make on the militiaman the Act «About administrative dereliction».

In the depths of the tax committee one more project of the Decree of the president «About introducing of the single tax from personal businessmen and other citizens» was "born" at realisation of the production, goods, activities, services and also about separate problems connected with the mentioned activity.

Details will be published in the 60^th- number of the bulletin "Businessman". The circulation of the 60^th- number is limited and it will be received only by active workers and members of the trade unions of the businessmen paying dues. It is possible to read the electronic version of the bulletin in the Internet http://employer.narod.ru or to book it on E - mail. The text of the project of the Decree can be read in the Internet - (http://levonevski.narod.ru/project.html) and (http://employer.narod.ru/project.html). The Tax Committee offers to cancel slips but to leave all system of the registration and fines, the taxes are offered to be increased up to 21-60 minimal wages (28-237 euro) per one month. Do we need it?

If not we do not strike the project of the Decree will be precisely signed and will work from 1.01.2001.

The announcement about the beginning the strike has already brought first results. All ministries and offices began to “move". Probably, soon there will be essential changes in our advantage. Our problem is to improve these changes maximally . if there is no well organised strike - our problems will stay unsolved. We will be deceived again by the state trade unions and state MASS-MEDIA speaking that our problems will be solved before the strike and that the strike it is not necessary. But we have already learned it. Until there is no strike, nothing will be done. It is interesting where all of them have been before the announcement about the strike, why have not they decided this problem? Very much depends on efficiency of the 23.11.2000 strike in life of the businessmen in 2001.

Valery Levonevsky

That we shall achieve by these actions of the protest

-         Cancellation of the Order of the State customs committee of the Republic of Belarus from September 20, 2000 N 55: «About customs registration of the goods imported to the customs territory of the Republic of Belarus from the territory of Russian Federation made in the third countries and put in free circulation in Russian Federation» in the part about personal businessmen;

- Changes in the Decrees of the President of RB # 14 from 04.08.97 and # 15 from 04.09.98 eliminating confiscation of the goods. The property should be inviolable. The confiscation of the property can be done only according to the decision of the court and only acquired in a criminal way;

-         Cancellation of the groundlessly high administrative fines for the personal businessmen. The maximum size of the administrative fine should not exceed 10 minimal wages.

- Cancellation of making answer for the administrative and criminal responsibility of the personal businessmen to the formal and far-fetched reasons;

-         Cancellation of the use of the obligatory book keeping for the businessmen paying fixed rates of the tax. The fly-off slip should be given to a buyer only as the document verifying the purchase;

-         Not allow to increase the present fixed rates of the tax for the personal businessmen;

-         Reduction the rent payment for trade places. The cost of one square meter of the trade area in the markets should not be higher than the rent payment for one square meter of the trade area in a state shop;

- Working up (together with us) and introducing of the standard agreement to rent trade places. The agreement on the rent of a place should be made up on the first requirement of a businessman;

- Giving a right to businessmen to elect a system of payment of taxes on the fixed rates or from the obtained income;

-         Cancellation of the obligatory certification of small-sized batches of the goods for personal businessmen. Such goods should be on sale with a note «The goods is not certificated in the Republic of Belarus»;

- Introducing of liability of the bodies producing the certificates of quality and other documents verifying the quality of the goods to a customer. I.e. a customer should have the right to bring a case before the court both to a seller of the poor-quality goods and to a body producing a document verifying the quality and safety of the goods;

-         Termination of an outrage of the tax and militia bodies.

Seminars                                                                       foto

On November 13, 2000 in Minsk the legal seminar for the businessmen of Minsk organised by the Belorussian Trade union of the Businessmen was held. The seminar was conducted within the framework of co-operation of the Belorussian businessmen and commission on the small grants of the Embassy of the USA.

The representatives of Free and other trade unions of the businessmen, State Tax Committee and MASS-MEDIA took part in the seminar. After the seminar the sitting of the Co-ordination Council of Organisations of the Businessmen (CCOB) was held. The decision to participate in the strike was accepted on CCOB. During the sitting of CCOB new members were adopted and a number of other problems was solved. All businessmen are going to strike 23.11.2000 at any coincidence.

The legal seminars will be conducted by the Belorussian Trade union of the Businessmen in Minsk monthly. In other cities - as agreed with the local trade unions.

Question - answer

Question: we do not receive regularly the bulletin "Businessman". We would like to read it more often.

Answer: we deliver the bulletin "Businessman" to 120 different addresses. It does not reach businessmen for different reasons:

-         the post office works badly (or guys from definite bodies work well);

-         people who get this bulletin can not or do not want to distribute it.

We are capable to deliver the bulletin "Businessman" in any cities and in any quantity. A problem in distribution. If in your market there are people who want to distribute the bulletin call us.

-         Grodno tel./fax (0152) 31-30-62 (editors),

- Minsk 260-97-75 Leonid Kalitenya (distribution everywhere in the Republic of Belarus),

-         Vitebsk and Vitebsk region tel./fax in Vitebsk (0212) 36-67-56 Inna Frolova,

-         Gomel and Gomel region, tel. in Gomel (023-2) 44-28-48, 53-84-76 Tatyana Marchenko,

-         Mogilyov and Mogilyov region, tel. in Mogilyov (022-2) 22-16-33, 23-51-84, 42-61-15 S

Sergey Fomin, 24-94-67 Gennady Semenov.

The bulletin also can be get at the Central office of the Free Trade union Belorussky in Minsk (Freedom square 23 (tel./fax 227-57-78, in the editorial office of the newspaper "Worker" tel. 227-04-54). The written application can be issued having sent the letter to the address: 230005, Grodno - 5, subscriber box 63. It is necessary to point out an exact address and quantity of the bulletins in the application.

Question: we want to create the trade union of the businessmen, but we do not know, how to do it.

Answer: There are some versions of creation of an organisation. We advise originally to create a primary organisation of one of three trade unions: the Belorussian Trade union of the Businessmen (BTUB) – the head is Valery Levonevsky, the Free Trade union Byelorussky (FTUB) – the head is Gennady Bykov or the Independent Trade union. The Free trade union Byelorussky and the Independent trade union are trade unions of the workers. We have good relations with them. The basis of the Belorussian Trade union of the Businessmen was made up just by the active workers of these trade unions. The general co-ordination of the actions to create new trade unions is supervised by Leonid Kalitenya tel. in Minsk 260-97-75. In regions and cities the representatives of the strike committee of the businessmen and BTUB work. The surnames of the representatives can be updated for L. Kalitenya. When you create a primary organisation of the trade union you will have the sample and status of an independent legal person.

If you do not want or can not create a trade-union structure you can join the trade unions which already exists.

Question: what is the Co-ordination Council of Organisations of the Businessmen (CCOB), who has organised it and how can we join it?

Answer: CCOB was created on the initiative of the Belorussian Trade union of the Businessmen, the strike committee of the businessmen and the Free Trade unions of the Businessmen. It is created as a consulting body. Its main task is the development of the joint proposals to change the local law in the field of business.

The feature of this body is that it consists from registered and not registered organisations of the businessmen. It is a young organisation, her age is some months. As to 14.11.2000 in CCOB there are 19 businessman’s trade unions and public associations. It is supposed that to the end of 2000 its structure will be extended up to 50 organisations.

Solutions of CCOB play the important role at the acceptance of the solutions about the strikes and other actions of the protest by the strike committee.

It is very simple to join it. It is necessary to write the application of an arbitrary example addressed to the co-ordinator (Leonid Kalitenya tel./fax in Minsk 260-97-75). The sittings of CCOB pass one time per one month. On the next sitting of CCOB your application will be considered.

Question: why are there so many different trade unions of the businessmen? Why sometimes they have conflicts with each other?

Answer: When in 1996 the strikes of the businessmen started, then the Strike Committee of the Businessmen of the Republic of Belarus was created. The active workers from different cities of the Republic of Belarus joined it. There was a problem on the legalisation of activity of businessmen’s structures. Officially to collect dues and to work legally, it is necessary according to the current legislation of the Republic of Belarus to register an organisation. We have tried independently to register our trade unions. We were refused everywhere. Then the strike committee accepted the decision to register trade unions under "roofs" of the others already registered state trade unions. "Operation" was realised successfully. But "speeches" of our trade unions did not satisfy state trade unions. The conflicts began. At this time we acquainted with the management of non-state trade unions (the Independent and Free). The strike committee accepted the decision to join these trade unions and to start work to create the own trade union of the businessmen. The part, less than 1 % of the businessmen, ignored the solution of the strike committee and remained in the state trade unions for different reasons. Now they permanently try to hinder us to realise the actions of the protest.

As to the Free and Independent trade unions of the businessmen, we supported them and we shall support. The independent strong free trade unions in Minsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilyov, Vitebsk and many other cities were formed. There are, certainly, separate "leaders" - «black sheep». But where are they not present? The conflicts happen. But they are insignificant. They sometimes are overstated by the Mass-Media. They practically do not influence the businessmen’s movement. The situation is controlled. The solutions of the strike committee are executed, the actions of the protest pass each time better and better. And there are a lot of businessmen’s structures, tax and other inspections reduce their “ardour”. And from «the occasional people» we get rid.

Question: who is the organiser of the 23.11.2000 strike years and who funds it?

Answer: Since 1996, all republican strikes are originated and funded by the Strike Committee of the Businessmen (SCB) of the Republic of Belarus.