Violations revealed in Don mines will not change situation for the better, trade-union leaders believe

According to Alexander Lozychenko, deputy chair of the Gukov Territorial Committee of the Russian Independent Coal Industry Workers' Trade Union ("Rosugleprof"), most likely, the prosecutor's checks conducted in the mines in the Rostov Region will not result in any improvement of the situation. According to his story, the revealed violations are usual for the regional coal industry.

"Neither for us, nor for prosecutors and mine owners these violations are news," Mr Lozychenko has noted. "By and large, any mine of the Rostov Region area can be stopped now because of violations in its operation. There's no need to check anything. But it's not possible to stop - thousands will remain without piece of bread."

In his opinion, the situation does not change for the better, because mine owners are not punished with "roubles" for the grave situation at their enterprises. As a rule, the personnel of the mines are punished for violations in their work, that is, those, who cannot qualitatively affect the situation. The companies, which really own the mines, are hard to be attracted to judicial responsibility.

According to Alexander Lozychenko, since directors do not manage the finance, quite a lot of problems arise: worn-out equipment and deficit of personnel. For the latter reason, the equipment is not timely revised, and no preventive repairs are conducted. Ventilating systems, which supply air into the mines, elevators and electric equipment (stationary power sources) are in worn-out condition. All this is fraught with accidents, the trade-union leader said.

His words were confirmed by ordinary miners. "Observance of safe working conditions in our mines is a problem," miner Gennady from Gukov, who asked not to give his surname, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "The equipment is too obsolete, separate units are already impossible to replace. Every month or two, someone is injured or traumatized…"

He also confirmed salary delays: the output goes down - extra payment for production volume was removed.

The managing company "Russkiy Ugol" (Russian Coal) told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they give no comments on miners' topics.

Trade union sees no way out

"Going on strike in this situation is senseless," said Lozychenko. "There're plenty of legal tricks to announce the strike illegal."

Yuri Kaunov, deputy chair of the Rostov Territorial Committee of the "Rosugleprof", agrees: "The legislation puts the employer and the worker into unequal conditions - the latter is actually rightless. Today any employee can be dismissed without any coordination with the trade union."

In the opinion of Alexei Tsivenko, chairman of the Rostov Regional Union of Trade Unions of Russia SOTSPROF, it is much more efficient to struggle with employers in the court.

However, miner Gennady does not believe that any efficient solution to the problem can be found by addressing the court. "Miners have no time to go there - it's a terrible red tape," he made his comments of Mr Tsivenko's words. "As a rule, if there's a conflict, the trade union starts long negotiations with the owner indicating the drawbacks. Some demands are satisfied, but never all of them."