Gukovo miners threaten authorities with new hunger strike

Workers of the “Zamchalovsky Anthracite", one of the companies of the "Kingcoal" group, said at the picket in Gukovo that they have received no wage debts from the start of the year. According to the protesters, should the authorities fail to resume payments, they will begin a mass hunger strike.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that workers of the "Kingcoal" bankrupt group of companies have been holding, from the spring of 2016, regular protest actions in Gukovo and Rostov-on-Don demanding to pay wage debts and give out the ration coal. Since August 22, 2016, “Kingcoal” miners have been holding a hunger strike in Gukovo. They were hunger-striking at home, but regularly went out to protest actions. On September 27, 2016, the hunger strike was stopped.

Today, in Gukovo, about 200 workers have held another picket.

Miners from the LLC "Zamchalovsky Anthracite" have complained about the fact that after in December 2016 they received 15 million roubles from the "Regional Development Corporation", there were no more payments for them. Miners have linked this with the fact that in the spring of 2016, 87 activists from the "Zamchalovskaya" mine started protest actions in Gukovo.

"The wage debts to 610 miners of ‘Zamchalovskaya’ mine amount to 95 million roubles. Should payments not resume until the end of February, we’ll announce a mass hunger strike; this is our solidarity decision," Nikolai Nadkernichny, who works as an explosive distributor at the "Zamchalovskaya" mine, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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