site.bta Bourgas Miners Stage Protest for Second Day in a Row

Bourgas Miners Stage Protest for  Second Day in a Row

Bourgas, September 19 (BTA) - The protest of miners of Cherno
More Mine - Bourgas over two-month wage arrears has been going
on for a second day now. Sixty workers refuse to leave the
galleries unless they get their pays. Three rescuers and a
medical team are monitoring their condition, Valentin Vulchev,
Chairman of the structure of the Confederation of Independent
Trade Unions in Bulgaria at the Mine, told BTA.

The miners went to work 300 metres underground at midnight on
Thursday and said they will only come out again when their late
wages are wired to their bank accounts.
At present, the workers have received only 130 leva an advance
payment against their July wages.

Unionist Chavdar Miloushev says that the money for wages to the
amount of 280,000 leva should have been remitted from the
National Electric Company to the Sliven Heating Utility, which,
on its turn, should have transferred the sum to the Cherno More
Mine. An agreement to this effect was reportedly reached at a
meeting of the Sectoral Council held on September 17.

The leaders of CITUB and the Federation of Miners' Independent
Trade Unions have sent a letter to the media warning that unless
caretaker Economy and Energy Minister Vassil Shtonov undertakes
urgent actions, the social tension will escalate bringing about
civil actions with unpredictable consequences. The miners are
considering to include their wives and children into the protest
actions.

Bourgas Ombudsman Tanyo Atanassov appealed to the state
institutions to find a fast solution to the problem. The
continuous non-payment of the miners' wages constitutes flagrant
and inadmissible violation of civil rights, labour legislation
and international norms, said Atanassov.