Ukrainian miners threaten to march on Kyiv

Due to underfunding, Ukraine's coal industry is in critical condition; wage arrears at Kiev-controlled coal mining enterprises are growing rapidly. This was stated by the head of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, Mikhail Volynets, writes Energy Business magazine.

(For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that Volynets, as an ally of Yulia Tymoshenko, does not accidentally criticize officials in power, since, obviously, he himself expects to occupy one of the positions. Moreover, Volynets was one of the participants in Euromaidan, so he bears no less responsibility for the current crisis in Ukraine).

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“I just returned from Donbass, from the ATO zone, and talked with employees of the Selidovugol State Enterprise and other enterprises. The main problem is wage arrears. People openly say that they are ready to march to Kyiv, they say that they are ready to take pitchforks.

The salary payment situation is critical. There will be strikes. Wage arrears began to grow rapidly starting in September, and now amount to about UAH 700 million, and there is no money to pay salaries. The mines are in critical condition. There is not enough money not only for salaries, but also for contributions to the Pension Fund, social insurance funds, for technical equipment of longwalls, even for basic support of technological processes. If this goes on, state-owned mines will shut down by the New Year,” he said.

According to him, the government does not understand the seriousness of the current situation, and the measures taken are not bringing results. Mikhail Volynets believes that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Social Policy are to blame for the current situation.

“The Prime Minister and the Minister of Social Policy are guilty, they are simply lying. They say one thing, do something completely different, deceive people, for example, in the case of the law on increasing the minimum wage.

Now in the first reading in parliament, bill No. 6489 of May 23.05.17, XNUMX “On preventing excessive pressure on business entities through measures of state supervision over compliance with labor legislation” has been considered, among the authors of which is the son of the president, Alexei Poroshenko, and the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy Lyudmila Denisova.

The bill provides that an employee may be fined if his complaint about a violation by the employer is not confirmed. If a person applies to the State Labor Inspectorate of Ukraine with a statement about a particular violation - occupational health, labor protection, human rights, labor rights of an employee - and within 30 days the inspection does not establish this violation, or this violation has already been corrected, or the employer “put pressure” on other employees, and they did not confirm the fact of the violation, then the employee may be fined 5100 UAH. Given our salaries, this is a serious fine.

Is it really hard to understand that people, the further they go, the more they will distrust those in power and social excesses may occur? It is better to talk about this openly and contact international authorities so that such problems can be eliminated in a timely manner. This is a peaceful, normal, civilized way, I would say, a patriotic way to improve life for the better,” Volynets said.