Gukovo miners hold picket and blame red tape for delays with allocation of coal

A sanctioned picket of miners was held today near the "Antratsit" Culture Centre in the town of Gukovo. The action was attended by 47 people – the maximum allowed number of participants.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the former employees of the "Kingcoal" Company were promised 100 tons of ration coal; however, so far, many miners have to collect firewood to heat their houses.

Initially, about 70 people came to the picket, but many of them were sent home by organizers in order to avoid accusations of violating the law, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The organizers associate the large number of those wishing to participate in the picket with the fact that the problem of heating houses is becoming more and more acute for Gukovo residents – miners have not received the promised coal; and many of those who had some fuel, have almost spent it.

According to Tatiana Avacheva, a member of the miners' initiative group, for three weeks already, miners are unsuccessfully trying to get the promised coal. "At first they said that 100 tons of coal had been allocated by the 'Sherlokhovskaya' Mine; but then, that mine said that they had no coal. Last week, the trade union said that there was some coal at the 'Obukhovskaya' Mine, but there a problem arose: to get the coal, they needed the seal of the 'Kingcoal-Yug' Company, but the company is bankrupt; there is no manager and no one can find the seal. We have a suspicion that they are deliberately protracting the issue," Tatiana told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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