Miners have come to the Parliament building with the flags of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPGU) and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) and posters with the slogans: "Enough talks! It’s time to act", "Pay us our salary", "Draft law 8362 will save the coal industry" etc.
Miners demand payment of wage arrears and adoption of the Draft Law No. 8362 "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine" On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2018 "regarding the proper financial provision for the state sector of the coal industry", which provides the allocation 2.8 billion UAH as the financial support of the state sector of the coal industry .
"According to the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Igor Nasalyk, 324 million UAH is transferring to the accounts of the state-owned enterprises. However, this amount is not enough even to pay wages for the miners. As of July 1, the wage debt is to 1.1 billion UAH. Except for wage payment, miners demand the adoption of an effective program for the development of the coal industry for at least ten years" - said the Chairman of the KVPU and the NPGU Mykhailo Volynets.
Mykhailo Volynets informed that today he talked with Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groisman and the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Igor Nasalyk. They assured him that they are making every effort to pay wage arrears and to solve other problems of the state-owned coal enterprises. Volodymyr Groisman promised that the miners’ problems would be kept under the constant control of the Government until they were fully resolved.