(AP) – Thousands of Ukrainian miners rallied Oct. 13 in the eastern city of Donetsk, calling for an increase in state financing for the coal industry.
Waving flags and chanting “Government – turn your gaze on miners,” several thousand representatives of different Ukrainian mines and political parties demanded the government pay attention to the needs of miners.
“We want them to stop oppressing the coal industry,” Mykola Volynko, head of the Donetsk office of the Independent Trade Union of Miners, told The Associated Press by telephone.
In August, President Viktor Yushchenko announced his plans to reshape the industry to make it safer. But miners said they’ve seen no results. And while Yushchenko’s government has paid back wages owed to miners, authorities did so by forcing mines to take out loans to cover the bills, Volynko said.
“Now we have to return the loans with interest,” he said. Next year’s state budget envisages 4 billion hryvnas ($800 million; 670 million euros) for the coal industry, miners said, complaining the figure is too low.
Ukraine has some of the world’s most dangerous mines, due to outdated equipment and poor safety standards. Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, nearly 4,300 miners have been killed in mining accidents.
