There are mass strikes at the Akhmetov mines: Metinvest claims incitement, and miners claim low wages
Krasnodon, April 23 (Navigator, Victoria Litovchenko) – In the Lugansk region, at five mines of the Krasnodonugol enterprise, part of the Metinvest group of Rinat Akhmetov, there are strikes by miners demanding higher wages.
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As the strike participants said, they decided to go on strike on April 22 at approximately 16:00 and did not work all night.
By nightfall, up to 2 thousand people had gathered near the building of the Krasnodonugol enterprise, who put forward not a political, but a social demand: to increase wages, Inter TV channel reports.
The maximum salary of a miner in Krasnodon is 6 thousand hryvnia, while in the Donbass those working in the face are paid on average 8-10 thousand.
“We go down into the mine earlier, we go up later, but 6 thousand hryvnia is the ceiling for us. That’s why the third and fourth shift buses didn’t go to the mine. And the first shift didn’t go either,” the media quotes one of the strike participants, Mikhail.
The miners stood in front of the company's closed office all night. The blocking of buildings continued in the morning and afternoon, but with fewer protesters.
Metinvest says that the strike was provoked from outside. According to the company, yesterday after a rally for federalization and a referendum in the city center, about 100 athletic people went to the administrative building of PJSC Krasnodonugol. “With their slogans, these people provoked miners returning after a work shift and called on them to participate in the rally,” Metinvest said.
“The rally participants demanded from the leaders of Krasnodonugol official permission to travel to the building of the regional department of the SBU in the Lugansk region, as well as the provision of buses for these purposes. At the same time, they demanded to double wages and cancel the labor protection and safety standards that were introduced in the enterprise’s production,” Akhmetov claims.
As of 14:00, a rally continues under the administrative building of PJSC Krasnodonugol. The company emphasizes that about 300 people are taking part in it - less than 3% of the full-time workforce, but due to blocking of roads and checkpoints, those who wish to do so cannot get to their workplaces.
The situation in the mines of Rinat Akhmetov became a reason for speculation and interpretation of his political position.
In particular, Verkhovna Rada deputy from Batkivshchyna, Alexander Briginets, suggests that the strikes became possible as a result of the weakening of Akhmetov’s positions in the Donbass.
“At some mines R. Akhmetov has a strike. Miners demand higher wages. I wonder if this is R. Akhmetov’s game to increase destabilization in the region or the understanding of the miners that Akhmetov is worth nothing today, and there is no need to be afraid of him, demanding an increase in wages from him, which until recently was simply impossible,” the deputy wrote on his Facebook page.
Massive strikes at Akhmetov's mines : Metinvest claims incitement, while miners complain of low wages