Energy Minister plans to close most state-owned mines: miners will fight
Kyiv, February 18 (PolitNavigator, Alexander Semenyuta) – During the Verkhovna Rada’s consideration of changes to the state budget on February 26, labor collectives of the Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers of Ukraine (PRUP) intend to picket the parliament building. The miners demand to stop the collapse of the coal industry, restore social guarantees, maintain state funding for enterprises, and ensure timely and full payments for electricity and coal.
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PRUP recalls that the state budget adopted in December 2014 does not include funding for coal mining enterprises in the industry, which is why these enterprises were on the verge of shutdown and closure; miners and members of their families were deprived of social benefits. “Today, 52 thousand people work in state-owned mines. The Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Vladimir Demchishin proposes to close most of them,” representatives of the trade union note.
“The situation in the industry is very difficult, the miners are on edge due to a radical reduction in government funding, growing wage debts, imports of electricity from Russia, which leads to a forced reduction in production,” states the growth of protest sentiments in production associations both in the east and in the west of the country, the chairman of the PRUP, Viktor Turmanov.
English version :: Read in English The Energy Minister is going to close most of the state-owned mines: miners will put up a fight