Starting from September 18, the independent miners’ trade union is organizing a mass submission of notices of work suspension at several mines in the occupied part of the Donetsk region simultaneously — instead of participating in the elections, which are taking place on the same days. ASTRA was told about this by the trade union’s co‑chairman, Alexander Vaskovsky.
According to him, more than ten mines in Donbas are pumping water out of underground workings to maintain safety and preserve the region’s ecology, but they receive their salaries irregularly. The authorities promised to pay off the debt by Miner’s Day, then by September 10 — both dates passed without any payments, and now the deadlines are being pushed back to the beginning of next year.
“Thousands of families are living on loans,” he says.“If the miners don’t get intimidated and instead of voting ballots they write notices of work suspension, this will be a very significant political matter with the prospect of further steps,” says Vaskovsky.
According to him, the staff of one mine is already ready to suspend work, and negotiations are underway with two more — he doesn’t disclose their names, fearing that making them public before the action begins will give the authorities time to intimidate people.
This tactic already worked in 2020, when the workers at the Nikanor‑Novaya mine in Zorinsk managed to secure payment of arrears dating back 12 months.At the same time, Izvestia journalist Dmitry Zimenkin published an anonymous appeal from miners from the “DPR” who have not been paid for several months to half a year.
“We currently have arrears of 4 to 7 months in wages. We are miners — we’ve already tried everywhere, but it’s all in vain.” “There’s only one answer: there’s no funding,” wrote a miner working in the drainage mode.
Shortly after the appeal was published on social media, a comment appeared from a resident of occupied Donetsk: her husband, who works at the Chaikino mine (which is now under the control of LLC “Uglekom”), tried to obtain a certificate confirming the wage arrears in order to file a lawsuit, but he was refused. The company has been promising to pay off the debt since March, each time extending the deadlines.
It is unknown whether the author of the letter is affiliated with the trade union — Vaskovsky himself said he is not aware of this appeal.
