Governor warns against migrant workers on tundra

«The ones working on the tundra should be people living in the Arctic zone», says regional leader in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug Igor Koshin.

According to the regional government leader, the oil industry is slashing the salary level by hiring cheap labor from outside the region.

«Subcontractors of oil companies do their best to hire extremely cheap work force», Koshin says to RIA Novosti. 

There should be introduced a minimum wage level for specialists anchored in legislative acts, the governor underlines.

«Then we would not import low-qualification labor to the tundra».

Figures from regional authorities show that there in 2015 were a total of 625 foreign workers in the region. Of them, 44,5 percent were from Uzbekistan, 22,3 percent from Tajikistan and 15,3 percent from Ukraine. The lion’s share of the workers is employed in the oil industry. 

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«The workers should have a high level needed qualifications, and the jobs should be well paid», Koshin underlines.

Locals in the region are reportedly increasingly reluctant to work in the oil industry because of the low salaries. About two thirds of the permanents population in the area are now instead prefer working in the public sector where the salary level is considerably higher.

The Nenets Autonomous Okrug has a population of about 45,000 of which about 7,500 are indigenous Nenets people.

The salary lever in the region has for years been the highest in Russia. In 2014, the per capita GDP amounted to 4.2 million rubles, which was more than a million rubles higher than the second-richest - the neighboring Yamal-Nenets AO.