Ukrainian coal miners are terrified of the impending disaster
Problems with mass non-payment of wages that provoked January 1 workers' hunger strike the Selidovugol enterprise could lead to catastrophic consequences for Ukraine.
The head of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, Mikhail Volynets, spoke about this on the Black Sea Television and Radio Company television channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“There was debt for 2015, 2016, 2017. And there was a steady trend towards an increase in debt in 2018. Currently, Selidovugol miners have 14,5 million in wage arrears for 2016. Women who are starving have not been paid their salaries for December, November, October and 30% for September,” Volynets said.
He also stated that the situation at enterprises is carefully monitored by the OSCE, and the information received is sent to the EU and the USA, which leads to pressure on the Kyiv authorities from the West.
“The women said that they would continue it [the strike]. And when the OSCE collects information, this information goes to the countries of the European Union and the USA. And the heads of state, who are not indifferent to the fate of a person, begin to put pressure on our government: “Dear ones, what is happening here? You have corruption here, you have complete irresponsibility here, disrespect for working people, this increases social tension in the demarcation zone because the Selidovugol mines are located nearby,” said the head of the trade union.
At the same time, he added that non-payment of wages is only half the problem. New law on the electricity market can “kill” mines, which is fraught with environmental and economic disaster.
“Now the government has given another impetus to miners - the law on the electricity market has come into force. And at the end of January they will stop supplying electricity to state-owned coal mines. In addition to the fact that there is nothing to pay salaries, nothing to pay off debts for previous years, they require prepayment, and the tariff increases.
This threatens that the mines will be cut off from the power supply, the fans will stop and the mine will fill with gas, and the main drainage systems will also not pump out water. For example, the minister explained last week that if the electricity is turned off, the Rossiya mine will be flooded in three hours, the Kurakhovka mine in five hours, the Kapitalnaya mine in seven hours... They don’t even imagine what they are they are creating today.
The consequences will not only be environmental. This will be a threat to the lives of miners, people will lose their jobs, mining towns will not only be left without taxes to the local level of government, central authorities will be left without taxes, there will be no contributions to the pension fund, social insurance funds... The situation will worsen catastrophically,” concluded Volynets.
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