Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin spoke rather bitterly of Katav-Ivanovskiy mechanical plant at a board meeting today. According to the spokesperson for the Governor, Petr Sumin asked the district head Boris Molokov to be more active in controlling the trouble, while the Ministry for Industry and Natural Resources was requested to send their representative onto the plant’s premises in order to get a clearer view of things.

‘We can’t let the production process stop or the company be destroyed, and we need to put forth stricter demands as far as the business owners are concerned, as they are personally responsible for the problem,’ he said.

The trouble started when the plant’s workers stopped working on April 20, 2009 because they hadn’t been paid some 12 million RUR worth of wages. They had a meeting next to the entrance later, proposing their demands and threatening the management with a strike.