Representatives of Free Trade Union of Miners Picketed the President Administration of Ukraine

15 January 2013 the representatives of Free Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine of Private Stock Company (PSC) “Lviv Coal Company” together with Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine organized a picketing near the President Administration of Ukraine demanding to pay out three months salary debts and salaries’ increase in accordance with the current national legislation.

Olga Shkoropad, the Head of the Free Trade Union said in her interview to national TV channels: “we were going to picket Lviv Oblast Administration in December last year but they paid us out only 50% of October salaries and promised to reimburse all salary debts by 5 January 2013 provided that we were not to carry out protest actions at Oblast Administration…”

During the picketing the protesters handed over an open letter to the President Administration addressed to President Victor Yanukovich which read: “The employees of Private Stock Company “Lviv Coal Company” with this letter would like to draw your attention to the unsettling situation that has been formed in the Company and in the region as a whole. Two years on end we have been wheedling away our honestly earned beggarly salaries by means of protest actions. As of 14 January 2013 November salary debts amount to 4,6 mln hryvnas ($567900) and December debts - 4,8 mln hryvnas ($592593) …” The letter also mentions that there are 1023 employees working in the company with 578 women having no other sources for existing rather than working at the company.

Also, in this letter the trade unionists stressed that Ukrainian State Property Fund sold PSC “Zahidenergo” with 3 coal mines to private persons and that the Company uses their own coal for electric stations in the region ignoring the coal of Lviv-Volyn Coal companies that leads to the factual closure of the existing 7 coal mines with 6000 miners to be unemployed. At the end of the picketing the representatives of the President Administration and the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry promised to form a commission to investigate the situation with coal mining companies in Lviv-Volyn region and resolve social-economic constraints.