Russian Car Plant Workers Demand Ownership Of Dormitories

TOGLIATTI, Russia -- More than 200 workers at the AvtoVAZ automobile plant in the Russian city of Togliatti gathered on June 16 to demand the company give them their dormitories, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Some 15,000 AvtoVAZ workers are living with their families in dormitories that belong to the plant.

Protester Marina Petrova told RFE/RL that the workers living in the dormitories are not able to afford apartments.

She said that even the mortgage system in the country is unable to assist the workers with loans so they are demanding that they be given ownership of their dormitory rooms.

The demonstrators also sent an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev urging him to allow the AvtoVAZ workers to gain legal ownership of the rooms in the plant's dormitories.