The miners will have to knock out salary debts again with protest actions that will begin on Wednesday under the office of the President of Ukraine, reported in the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine.
According to the trade union, there is no reason to even hope for a decrease in wage arrears in the near future for employees of state-owned coal mining enterprises, and 2021 began with their constant accumulation. And the reasons are not at all in the restrictions for the acting minister that existed before the adoption of Law No. 1285-IX, which was referred to in the government.
As an example, the trade union recalled how in January, despite the fact that the acting minister of energy did not have the authority to sign budget programs, 277.5 million hryvnias intended to pay salaries to miners for the first month of 2021 were used to pay earned by miners back in December 2020. And since the debt amounted to almost 350 million hryvnia, it was necessary to "borrow" also 64 million hryvnia of February salaries.
According to the trade union, as of March 15, salary arrears to miners of state mines have already reached 1.75 billion hryvnia, and under the budget program "Restructuring of the Coal Industry" today only 204,566,000 hryvnias have been received for these and other needs.
Recall that the leadership of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine signed a number of orders to ensure stable financing of the country's energy sector, in particular on the payment of wages to employees of coal mining enterprises.
According to the press service of the ministry, orders were signed to approve passports of budget programs that ensure payment of more than 3 billion hryvnia of salaries to miners, financing of mines that are in liquidation, as well as the Nadezhda mine (over 1 billion hryvnia), as well as financing of mine rescue activities at coal mining enterprises.
