Photo: Novaya Respublika
Ust-Vymsky District Court has upheld two collective lawsuits filed by 200 workers and ordered the Zheshart Plywood Plant to pay more than 3 million rubles in compensation for moral damages. The company was also ordered to pay outstanding wages, according to Novaya Respublika.
In addition, the court issued a separate ruling to Rafael Salyaev, director of the Zheshart Plywood Plant and brother of the plant's owner, Alexander Salyaev, stating that breaches of labor law are inadmissible. It also found that the rights of all plant workers had been violated in January and February 2026. As a result, other affected employees who did not join the lawsuits will not have to prove these facts again in court.
According to Dialektik, the plant's problems began in 2025 amid sanctions and declining demand. By the autumn, the company had accumulated 116 million rubles in wage arrears. In March 2026, investigators suspected the plant's former director, Olga Tikhomirova, of concealing assets worth 300 million rubles.
🔶Workers at the Zheshart Plywood Plant staged rallies demanding payment of overdue wages, the restoration of jobs, and the nationalization of the enterprise. After one spontaneous protest, demonstrators entered the administrative building to question the management. Four thousand workers signed a petition calling for the plant to be transferred into state ownership and for jobs to be preserved.
