The labor market crisis is already affecting Irkutsk region. According to the trade union, about 6 thousand people may be laid off soon at large industrial enterprises. BCBK, Usolyekhimprom, Sayanskkhimplast and others face cuts and shutdowns, along with fire service, aircraft, media and business workers. The article also explains how employers try to hide layoffs and why employees should not agree to resign voluntarily and should defend their rights.

The labor market crisis is beginning to affect our region as well. Thus, according to the Irkutsk Region professional association, about 6,000 people will be laid off in the near future at 20 large industrial enterprises in the region.
The most dire situation is at the BCBK, where virtually all workers have been laid off.
There are also reports of layoffs and production shutdowns at "Usolyekhimprom," "Sayanskhimplast," and at the Bratsk Timber Processing Plant.
There are problems with the payment of social guarantees at enterprises in the region’s metallurgical complex.
The fire service unit in the Olkhon District and the fire and rescue unit in Sayansk are being virtually completely liquidated.
The crisis turmoil has also affected employees of Sibaviastroy. Management informed workers about possible layoffs. Some were offered to resign of their own free will.
Employees of LLC "Metall-Komplekt Irkutsk" are afraid of layoffs. With concern in their voices, they admitted that half of them were offered by management to take leave in December.
Employees of OJSC "Modern Constructions" (formerly the heavy machinery plant) have been offered unpaid days off. In this way, without laying anyone off, management is saving on wages.
There have been no layoffs yet at the pharmacy chain "Avicenna," but... "We are thinking about the crisis," says Vitaliya Nikolaevna Vinogradova, Director of the Personnel Department. "If it continues to gain momentum, we will have to reduce staff. We will wait until February, and then it will become clear whether to resort to this measure or whether the crisis will not affect our employees."
Staff reductions will take place at the Irkutsk office of Rossiyskaya Gazeta — five of the seven staff journalists will be left without work. In addition, there will be no work for the proofreader, layout designer, and accountant. The regional insert with materials on the Irkutsk Region will also cease to exist. Now only one page is allocated to all regions of the country in this publication.
One should not forget that many enterprises, trying to preserve their image, are keeping quiet about the problem.
It is known that banks were the first to suffer from the global crisis. Thus, in unofficial conversations, many bank employees say they are afraid of being laid off, but there have been no official announcements of layoffs in Irkutsk’s banking sector yet.
By the way, the staff reductions taking place in business structures are confirmed by employees of Irkutsk recruitment agencies. Most of them report that, because of the crisis, twenty percent more people have begun to turn to personnel departments. The number of requests from employers themselves has decreased by about the same amount.
There is also the possibility that, on the employer’s side, dismissals under the slogan of the "financial crisis" may well be a way to carry out restructuring or get rid of excess people in the company. Practice shows that many employers try to circumvent labor law when reducing staff. One should not give in to requests to write a resignation letter "of one’s own free will," because then the former employee loses the right to all existing benefits in the event of a layoff. Nor should one be shy about defending one’s rights in court.