Striking miners march in protest (05/24/98)

Striking miners march in protest

RFE/RL Newsline

DNIPROPETROVSK - Thousands of coal miners who have taken part in marches over the past few days arrived in Dnipropetrovsk on May 19 and gathered outside the oblast administration building to demand the payment of wage arrears.

They reacted angrily when acting Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Radchenko pledged to pay only their wages for this month, saying the state has no funds to pay the miners for previous months. As of mid-May, the state debt to the coal mining sector was 2.1 billion hryvni (more than $1 billion U.S.).

Ukrainian Radio reported on May 18 that the government had created a special commission for drawing up proposals by May 21 to resolve the socio-economic problems of coal miners in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Some 5,000 coal miners from Pavlovhrad marched 70 kilometers to Dnipropetrovsk to demand unpaid wages, mirroring the action taken by 1,000 miners from Pervomaisk. The miners spent the night of May 20-21 outside the oblast administration building after presenting an ultimatum to the government.

The ultimatum says the miners will wait 24 hours for a government decision to pay back wages. If the government fails to make such a decision, the group will march on to Kyiv. The protesters demand payment of all wage arrears to Pavlovhrad mines, now totaling 84 million hryvni ($42 million U.S.) and the restoration of subsidies to the coal mining sector, which were suspended by the government 18 months ago.