PhosAgro Expands Benefits in New Collective Agreements

MOSCOW, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- All PhosAgro enterprises have signed new collective agreements that will last until 2023. 

For the first time in PhosAgro's history, the Company held a simultaneous signing ceremony via videoconference at all of the Group's enterprises in Kirovsk, Apatity, Moscow, Cherepovets, Balakovo and Volkhov.

The new collective agreements – developed on the basis of employee feedback – streamlines the benefits and safeguards provided for employees and retirees of Company enterprises and increases the amount thereof. In addition, the limits on payments have been increased for most items covered by the agreements.

According to Denis Brodkov, Chairman of the Minudobreniya Association of Trade Union Organisations, which includes the primary trade unions representing all PhosAgro Group enterprises, the total amount of funding for benefits under the collective agreements will increase by 3% to RUB 1.1 billion. This will cover benefits such as private medical insurance, sports and cultural events, holidays for employees and summer holidays for their children, recuperation within the corporate system of preventive-health clinics, payments for certain family-related events, and assistance for parents with children starting school and for those with large families. 

Mr Brodkov added that PhosAgro's collective agreement is, without doubt, one of the best in the sector and in the manufacturing industry in general.

Alexander Sitnov, Chairman of Roskhimprofsoyuz, trade union of chemical industry workers, said that, in this day and age, the range and amount of social benefits and safeguards provided to employees in a collective agreement is one of the main indicators of a company's degree of social responsibility. According to Mr Sitnov, PhosAgro's new collective agreement, which provides for a further increase in the amount of benefits and covers more than 17.5 thousand workers and their families, as well as retirees, sets a high bar in terms of the social safety net provided for employees and in terms of the Company's social responsibility, despite the fact that the previous agreements were also very highly regarded.

"PhosAgro has once again confirmed its status as a company with a high degree of social responsibility and as a true pioneer in the industry. The foundation has been created for a guaranteed social safety net for the employees of PhosAgro enterprises for three years despite the coronavirus pandemic and the general decline in economic activity throughout the world," said Mr Sitnov.

PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev noted that, while the Company is making colossal investments in the development of its production capacities, its employees are its most valuable asset. In this regard, he said that caring for the workforce is considered a priority at PhosAgro.

"The further streamlining of the collective agreements underlines the strengthening of our corporate community. We all have our own job to do, but we are all one big family, where the rights of every employee are protected to the maximum extent possible.

"The Company will continue to build housing for its employees and their families; to equip municipal hospitals and maternity clinics; to restore holy sites; to build stadiums; to support medicine, education, culture and sports; and to take care of people with disabilities and low-income groups, especially in during challenging time of covid," stressed Mr Guryev.

PhosAgro's CEO added that the Company's record-setting results during the pandemic were made possible by work-related arrangements made with the workforce.

"All of our employees are aware of their responsibility for their own health and for the health of their loved ones; they understand the justification for, and impact of, preventive measures taken at Company enterprises. This has helped us accomplish our key objective: getting through the most difficult stage of the epidemic without any outbreaks and keeping our workforce healthy", said Mr Guryev.

About PhosAgro

PhosAgro (www.phosagro.ru) is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P₂O₅ content of 39% and higher. PhosAgro's environmentally friendly fertilizers stand out for their high efficiency, and they do not lead to the contamination of soils with heavy metals.

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P₂O₅ content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, more than 50 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 102 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.

More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website: www.phosagro.ru.