The BBC Uzbek service received a letter of complaint from workers of the UzAuto Motors plant in Asaka. The publication interviewed the owner of the complaint letter and three of his colleagues and asked for their reaction to these allegations.

“We, the workers of UzAuto Motors (formerly known as GM Uzbekistan) automobile factory in Asaka, could not stand by and watch the violations of human rights in our factory, but wanted to inform the public about all the cases and thereby draw the attention of law defenders to this issue.

Well, it all started with the appointment of Shavkat Umurzakov, an employee of the prosecutor’s office, as the chairman of the auto industry system. At first, the chairman, who promised to solve the problems of corruption in the system, improve the working conditions, and raise the monthly salaries, brought the prosecutor’s office employees into the system with him. The main leadership positions were assigned to the employees of the prosecuting body and their acquaintances, who are far from the auto industry at all,” the letter’s author says.

He said that “control over the workers has increased sharply” at the factory and stated that the situation “does not differ from real feudalism”. According to the employee, the reason for this is that the chairman has set a very big production plan.

“Workers who have been working two shifts for almost a year now have to work about 300 hours a month. This is extremely high. True, overtime is being paid, but irreplaceable health is being lost. The workers are sick and have to be treated. Regular workers are being paid 5-6 million soums due to overtime. On the one hand, this is a good month, but at what cost?! They pay around 2.5 million soums per month for 160-170 hours. Most of the workers have bank loans and they agree to work overtime to pay off their loans.

To the questions about reducing working hours and increasing monthly salaries, the leaders reply that “that’s what we offer, if you don’t want, there are many people willing to work instead of you”, the interlocutor says.

Other workers interviewed by the publication also said that the workload is large, but the number of workers is not appropriate.

In a telephone conversation, a factory worker said that due to long hours, he fell asleep at the wheel without realizing it while driving. He told the BBC that he was unaware of what his employment contract said about working hours.

One of the employees of UzAuto Motors said that he is forced to work without breaks and lunch.

“Most of the workers are not allowed to bring phones into the factory area, and when they work long shifts, communication with their families is completely cut off. A raid is organized several times every day. Each group is different. If the vice-chairmen go on a raid, everyone will run from side to side, because anyone who are met by them is immediately fired. The department heads are always in trouble,” he says, adding that the officials who come to control insult the department heads with very shameful words in front of everyone.

According to the employee, consent letters are obtained from workers “under intense pressure”. For example, at the end of the year, if the inventory of the factory is taken and there is a deficit, workers are “forced to sign a letter of consent under strong pressure” in order to distribute the deficit equally to everyone and cover it from the salary. Even workers who have nothing to do with the deficit have to pay, he says.

The employee said that he and other workers did not complain about the leadership to other agencies. Because they are worried not only about getting fired, but also about their safety.

“In order to reduce working hours and increase salaries, workers blocked the factory and organized a rally. But it was useless. On the contrary, those who took part in the rally were identified through the camera, called to the special department one by one and “remembered”. Almost all the workers were fed up with the situation at the factory. Many employees are looking for other jobs, and the rest are forced to leave because the population is dense in the region, and finding a job is a problem”.

BBC sent some of the complaints of the employees to the press service of UzAuto Motors. In the company’s response, it was stated that UzAuto Motors “enters the TOP-5” of joint ventures in Andijan in terms of salaries, and decent working conditions have been created for employees.

“The company regularly analyzes the average consumption basket in the republic, the amount of wages paid by organizations in the region, and the growth rate of the minimum monthly wage. According to the results of this analysis, over the past 4 years, the monthly salary of employees has been increased by a total of 78%, in particular, by 45% in 2018, by 10% in 2019, by 13% in 2020, and by 10% in 2021.

In addition, in order to materially encourage employees, bonuses in the amount of up to 40% of the monthly salary are being paid. Also, a number of social protection packages have been created in the enterprise for employees. The protection package includes transportation to work, free meals 24 hours a day, special uniforms, recreation and health centers, medical examinations, and financial incentives.

Work at the plant is organized in 2 shifts. According to it, the daily working hours of employees are set as 8 and 11 hours. Employees who work 11 hours are being paid for the 600 hours of work required by law. Today, the company does not owe any wages or other payments to the employees. Employees are paid for their work correspondingly.

At this point, it is worth mentioning that during the past period, several employees who were actually caught stealing were fired. There are no objections between employees and the factory who carry out their tasks honestly, conscientiously and proactively. As for the shortage, according to the results of the inventory, the shortage of material assets is collected from the financially responsible persons and this is the practice of the whole state,” UzAuto Motors said.

It added that the factory in Asaka is a “strategic facility with a lot of high-tech and secret equipment” and therefore camera phones cannot be brought into the factory.