Unpaid workers vow hunger strike to death

KAUNAS - Three of the 90 unpaid workers at Kaunas' bankrupt Inkaras athletic shoe manufacturer have vowed to undertake a hunger strike unto their death. After years of mismanagement and alleged embezzlement of millions of Litas, it's the workers who have been left holding the bag. The company has declared bankruptcy while the workers are due an excess of 1.5 million litas ($375,000).

"We haven't been paid in over a year. Our employers borrowed millions, invested only a small portion of that money and stole the rest," said Marius, one of the hunger strikers. They are not showboating. Hunger strikes have lost some of their currency since the days of Mahatma Gandhi and are often symbolic - either of short duration or else resembling fasts allowing for breaks.

The Inkaras hunger strike began March 6. Maryte, Ciprijonas and Marius are drinking only mineral water both night and day.

"I'm prepared to die in the name of my fellow workers. Some of us invested 35 years of work in that factory. Why should we be treated like this?" asked Ciprijonas. According to Lithuanian Radio and Television, a doctor visiting the strikers in their tent outside the factory on March 13 said Ciprijonas had dangerously low blood pressure but refused to discontinue his strike.

Other Inkaras workers have parked themselves in front of the gates and are taking turns watching so that management doesn't remove any remaining equipment or inventory. They hope to recoup at least part of their salaries.

According to a story in the Kaunas daily Kauno Diena, Inkaras management has refused to answer questions about the mismanagement of funds. The only statement given by its director A. Riekumas concerned the pelting of his car by several workers. He said he was being generous to them by not pressing charges. Tracing management's wrongdoings is virtually impossible. They split the company into seven separate corporations when it was privatized, making attempts at forensic accounting nightmarish as transactions have been buried under mounds of paperwork.

At issue as well is a $30 million loan from a Swiss bank in 1994 guaranteed by Lithuania's government.

"The government is presently paying that loan with interest. Today's politicians are wiping their hands of this whole issue as they weren't in power then. We are most disappointed in Valdas Adamkus. He won the office because of the Kaunas vote, and yet he calls us rebels. Of course, it's election time now so we're being swept under the carpet. The Kaunas city government refused to let us protest in front of the municipal buildings. They said it was a security hazard as they had foreign visitors. Nonsense," said Marius.

The hunger strikers were flying a Lithuanian flag outside their tent on March 11 during this reporter's visit.

"Notice that we've tied a small black ribbon to the top. It's a national holiday here, but we're not celebrating it. We're too embarrassed and ashamed of our government," said Marius.