Russian Shipyard Workers Demand Overdue Salaries

BALTIISK, Russia -- Hundreds of workers at the Baltiisk shipyard in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast have organized a protest demanding their overdue salaries, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Some 700 people work at the shipyard and protesters gathered next to the facility's entrance to remind the shipyard's leadership that their salaries have not been paid since December.

Russia's Defense Ministry is the legal owner of the facility.

Valery Nyrtsov, the chairman of the Baltic Fleet's Kaliningrad Federation of Trade Unions, says the shipyard's management is not responsible for the back wages owed to the workers.

According to him, the Defense Ministry and city authorities failed to pay the shipyard.

The authorities have promised to pay the overdue salaries by May.