In Gukovo, miners announce their willingness to resume hunger strike

In Gukovo, picketers are not satisfied with the results of the meeting with the Minister of Energy of the Rostov Region. The protestors are willing to resume their hunger strike interrupted on September 27 if the payments of wage arrears to former miners of the "Kingcoal" company are not renewed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that starting from August 22, the miners of the "Kingcoal" company conducted a hunger strike, and on October 13, they stated that after the payment of nearly 2 million roubles, no further money was paid to them.

On October 18, about 90 miners gathered for a picket. According to Nikolai Nadkernichny, one of the coordinators of the protest, the meeting with government officials did not bring any particular results. Nikolai Nadkernichny has noted that the amount not exceeding 20 million roubles was paid and then the payments of wage arrears for April-May 2015 were stopped.

"We have been explained that the 'Regional Development Corporation' is short of money, and it holds negotiations with banks to get credits for another amount of 30 million roubles," said Nikolai Nadkernichny.

Besides, at the meeting, the participants also discussed the miners' demand to pay them 300 million roubles of debt from the Reserve Fund of the Rostov Region. According to Nikolai Nadkernichny, the officials reported the lack of mechanism for the transfer of money.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.