Lukashenko criticizes international corporations for abusing their workers

MINSK, 31 March (BelTA) – In a bid to separate people into classes attempts are being made to push the society back by thousands of years. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement in his Address to the nation and the parliament on 31 March, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “The desire of transnational corporations to return to the harsh exploitation of people is the reason for many disturbances in today's world. In this desire to separate people into classes attempts are being made to push us back by thousands of years. Think about it. Just one example. The American company Apple has agreed to set up its manufacturing facilities in Asia, in India only if the workday is increased to 12 hours and the overtime limit is raised to 145 hours per quarter. In Belarus overtime is limited to 45 hours per quarter.”

Legislation had to be amended in order to lure investors. All the accomplishments of hardworking people of the last 100 years are now threatened: from free healthcare and education to social packages and pensions, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “The mankind is being gradually led into the so-called new world where there will be billions of redundant people. They will be deprived of rights, hungry, and poor but allegedly free in the most versatile liberalistic manifestations. You know which ones. People feel it and take to the streets. Look at what is going on in the West, for instance, in France,” he stressed. “Countries like Belarus are not simply an irritant. We are a threat to this project. Because we follow our own path. And along this path we try to support our nation, our people, working people.”