In Lutsk, as a result of a conflict between the staff and the director of the "Lyubart" Trading House, the line for producing fermented dairy products has been stopped and only hard cheese production has been left, the Western Information Corporation's own correspondent reported on 24 October.
Fermented dairy products accounted for 60% of the enterprise's gross production. Recently, the cost of the products has noticeably increased, although the cost price of processed milk was lower compared to some other Volyn enterprises.
The stoppage of the line led to 60 employees being forced to write resignation letters, and another 40 are to be subject to staff cuts. Ultimately, 109 employees are to remain at the plant. Management did not warn the employees about the dismissals.
In addition, the plant owes milk suppliers 1 million 200 thousand hryvnias.
The director of TD "Lyubart" LLC, Bohdan Baradnyi, claims that the production of milk, kefir, sour cream and other products has become unprofitable, and that the employees themselves are to blame, who, allegedly, "themselves plundered the enterprise by taking milk or sour cream home." In addition, he accused the journalists who covered the situation at the plant of "dirty and commissioned PR."
Bohdan Baradnyi explains the plant's transition to only hard cheese production as follows: "We are not bankrupt. If we had continued working like that, then in a few months we would have become bankrupt. That is a fact. To prevent this from happening, we intend to switch to a narrow specialization."
The staff, in turn, speak of a reduction in the salary levels of ordinary employees and excessively large salaries of the management. The employees are ready to wait out the hard times and demand that they not be dismissed.