OREANDA-NEWS. On 15 July 2009 was announced, that the Board of Directors of Uralkali (Berezniki, Perm Territory) has decided to raise wage rates and salaries of the company’s employees by 12.5 % as of August 1. The pay increase will not be applied to the company’s senior management.

The pay raise decision was made in spite of the continuing turbulence in the world’s fertilizer markets. The global crisis has triggered a substantial drop in the effective demand for fertilizers, which has not yet recovered. Potash producers have been forced to cut their production and lower their profit forecasts. Uralkali has been operating at lowered capacity since Q4 2008, and the company’s output does not exceed 40–50 % of its production capacities.

The pay increase will add 150 million roubles to Uralkali’s total expenses in 2009. However, this was a deliberate step taken by the company’s management in a move to support employees, retain personnel, and preserve the human resources potential during the crisis. The decision was adopted strictly in compliance with the Uralkali Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2007–2010. According to the agreement, the company raises employee pay at least once a year, taking into account the labor market analysis, the company’s need for highly qualified personnel, and a rise in consumer prices. The pay increase rate was defined in accordance with the inflation forecast made by the Russian Ministry for Economic Development for 2009.

This pay increase was a gift to Uralkali’s employees to mark the occasion of the company’s main annual corporate holiday, Uralkali Day, that will be celebrated on July 11 in Berezniki.

Dmitry Rybolovlev, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Uralkali:

“This year we are celebrating our main corporate holiday in a challenging environment. Like a lot of other manufacturers, we have to cut costs. At the same time, we do our best to minimize the effect of these measures on Uralkali’s employees: the company has paid bonuses related to performance in the previous year and continued to provide the majority of social benefits. We didn’t cut the workforce or duration of the working week. Uralkali’s staff is the foundation of the Company, its core asset. Retaining our personnel, we will be able to see through the crisis. In recognition of this, the Uralkali Board of Directors decided to increase employee pay.”