Unemployment in the demand for coal or how Donbass workers live
04/01/2020
Interview with a miner from the Luhansk region
Since 2014, when the power in Ukraine was changed as a result of the coup, and Donetsk and Lugansk began the struggle for independence from Kiev, there was not a single day without reports of incidents on these fronts. Politics, military operations and, again, politics - the media of various directions in every way interpreted what was happening. At the same time, in our opinion, to the point of indecency, little attention was paid to one of the main figures on which the industry of the DPR, LPR and the whole of Ukraine rested in the days of its integrity - a simple miner who mined coal in the bowels of the Donbass. Behind all the vicissitudes, no one seemed to be interested in how the working people of the unrecognized republics live, how current events affected them and their households.
What did the miners gain with the advent of “independence”, and what did they lose? And what awaits them ahead? We tried to find out about all this from Alexander (the full name is not disclosed for security reasons), a worker from a mine in the city of Krasny Luch, Lugansk Region.
How long have you been working as a miner?
- About 10 years already working.
- How difficult is the job? How dangerous, harmful?
- I can’t say whether it is difficult or not - it's all a matter of habit. As for danger - yes: you probably don’t know what will happen to you. Lack of air, dust, humidity. But, most importantly, you get involved in it, and it starts to like a little. Sometimes you will meet a guy on the street - like a mattress, a mattress. And when you see this guy descending into the mine, you wonder how he is changing: a completely different face, different behavior. You immediately understand that this is a completely different person: more severe and purposeful, not afraid of difficulties.
- Is coal in demand?
- Coal is always in demand.
- In what conditions do you have to work?
- The conditions are different. Different areas have their own task and difficulties. Even a simple descent into the mine takes power. The miners ( workers directly involved in coal mining in the mine. - Approx. Ed. ) Always have a danger of being littered with coal or rock. Incorrect actions can lead to death, but in a well-coordinated team this rarely happens, especially if the mine is not gas, that is, with a low gas content in the reservoirs. When they saved the mine 2 times from flooding, they dived into the water and dragged the equipment by hand - it was different. But only good things come to mind.
Each service monitors its site. At the VShT site, it is the duty to monitor mine transport and rail tracks, to deliver equipment to the site and coal from the mine. The lifting section monitors the operation of the lifting machines. Conveyor service, sinking - you can list a lot, but everyone’s work is hard, because the main traction force is people.
- What equipment is used in mining? Was it updated? When?
- There used to be combine lava, and not one. Then, with the advent of independence, certain people had their own interests, the desire to cash in at the expense of others. Mine equipment was gradually sold, and eventually mining became hammer, that is, with jackhammers. Since the collapse of the Union, I think nothing has really changed. I remember the mine, what it was and what it became. Every year, something collapsed and something decreased and there were no major updates, but what was planned was plundered in the bud and written off. The equipment is mainly Soviet yet. Yes, there are small things, such as a portable compressor or the construction of a new boiler room for a mine. But even there, the station boilers were cut and everything was built with disruptions, so we can say that this is for the removal of eyes.
- How has the industry changed after separation from Ukraine? Who led the line ministry?
- After separation from Ukraine, the changes were only for the worse, although in Ukraine too, not everything was smooth. But at least stability was outlined. At least under Yanukovych. The relevant ministry was headed by thieves. I don’t remember everyone and I’m not going to remember. One was kicked out for theft, the second himself escaped. And how many of them were and are there, I don’t know. I see the result. I see that the industry is being robbed and destroyed in the bud, they are not being given any support. Although if you listen to what they are doing, you feel like crying: the ministers are concerned about the difficulties of the mining industry. In fact, the words diverge from the deed.
- What salaries do the miners receive? What can you buy for it?
- I don’t know how to give a definition of a miner's salary, if it’s practically not given. According to the papers, of course, it closes. For example, on average, the earnings of an underground worker from July 2019 are approximately from 15,000 to 25,000 rubles. Minimum - 10,000 with a full working month. For the entire period from July 2019 to March 2020, approximately 60% of the July salary was paid. Issued in parts. For surface workers, the average salary is no more than 6,000 - 7,000 rubles, and they were paid about the same percentage. And what do you think you can buy for the money?
- What are the reasons for trying to close the mines? Who implements them? For what?
- That there are attempts to close the mine is clear as day. They do not pay wages so that people run away on their own, there are no investments from the plant - only the removal of equipment mainly. But there is a reason, and, most likely, it is greed: to get money to close, to appropriate and sell equipment and metal for the purpose of enrichment. This is the first thing that comes to mind. And if you dig a little deeper and reflect, it stretches even from the moment when the Soviet Union collapsed and turned the country into ruins. The destruction of the coal industry in Ukraine and the Donbass is a departure from competition for Western coal companies and the introduction of their raw materials on the Ukrainian market and all CIS countries on their own terms. I believe that the policy of the Ministry of Coal Industry is a targeted paid action that will lead to the collapse of the LPR economy. In fact,
I will answer the previous question: who carries out the closure. As soon as we disconnected from Ukraine, we formed a specialized association of SE Donbassanthracit . We worked in normal mode from August 2014 to December 2016. Then we saved the mine from flooding. On its own enthusiasm, we can say: no money, no humanitarian aid was not, and wages in podzemnikov 10,000 paid in two installments of 1.5 - 10% . In 2017, like, there has been an improvement: dobychniki began to receive wages in full, and terrestrial services is already at 20 - 40% were given. With the arrival of Sergey Borisovich Chuprin, General Director of the Donbassanthracit GP everything slipped back into its former rut, even though the leadership on television stated that the debts to the miners had been fully repaid. Apparently, all the money in the offices settled - they have their salaries and their debts there, which do not intersect with ours. After Chuprin left for promotion and joining the Lugansk People's Republic of Lugansk, Tsentrugol tried to fix everything, but to this day they have not moved from the dead center.
There is a comment in the press by Chuprin about the unprofitability of our mines, why they are forced to close and drown them. But the question is: where did such knowledge come from, if for the whole time of his administration he did nothing good, he only exported equipment and coal. In September 2019, according to the leadership of the mine, a decree came to cease coal mining. And with this all funding was stopped altogether. Then, however, they asked, why aren’t you getting it? The last decree, which no one saw, was to flood the mine. Neither a plan, nor any preparatory actions - leave and drown, in an orderly manner. This comes directly from Centrugol and the Ministry of Coal Industry.
- Do you have a union? Which one?
- The union is, "yellow." He did not defend the rights of miners, but only merged. For example, he did not resist cutting salaries and vacations, he did not defend the rights of miners as a whole. So, just words.
- What coal is mined in mines: energy or coking?
- Coal is produced by Anthracite grade. This is steam coal, the only one that is valued highly throughout the world, but not with us.
- How much coal is mined? Have these numbers changed?
- Recently, the numbers, of course, have been changing downward. Not because we can’t mine, but because we didn’t pay for labor. Miners are people too. And almost everyone has a family and children. Someone from hopelessness went to work and left the mine. Then, when they started to pay, they returned. Once upon a time, an average of 3,000 tons of coal were mined per day. And sometimes it reached up to 5,000 - 6,000 tons. Stable 1,000,000tons per year yielded. But there will be nothing good from cutting back and robbing equipment. When you want to cash in, it’s more profitable to flood the mine, sell equipment, cut out the metal and turn it into scrap metal, and distribute the closure subsidies among themselves. To expose people with nothing. Who in this situation will give normal work. Our mine reached a level of self-sufficiency (this is when 1 ton of coal is mined per worker), but the power transformer with overhead lines was slightly damaged by military operations by the Armed Forces, and a valiant team of “worthy people” cut it into metal or sold it, one in a word, destroyed. They promised to bring a new one, and it was from where. Russia, allegedly, gave, were their own. But they didn’t. And they could not run at full capacity without this - there was not enough power. Although we have done a great job,
I would like to add about the distribution of wages. In fact, the employees of the Donbassantratsit office (and there were about 2000 of them) were sitting on the neck of the miners, as their salaries were many times greater and there were no such delays. Hence the lack of profitability in mines.
- Is there any other work in the region? Where will people go if the mine closes?
- In the Red Beam closed they sold out everything that is possible, not a single enterprise. There are several mines: some for conservation, and some for flooding. Work is offered about 50 km from the house. They promise to carry, but not for long - there is always the opportunity to dump on a broken transport. With the closure of the mines, the entire infrastructure of the city will disappear.
- How can I confront the closure of the mine?
- Our people are scared. Any discontent is prohibited, all attempts at rallies are punishable outside the law, and a ban on the creation of an independent trade union. The freedom of thought is suppressed. I do not want to say anything about power, whether it is bad or good. I just want to ask some people in power: what will happen after you sell it all? What will remain after you? What will you sell later? I think people?
All hope for support from Russia, the government, parties and not indifferent people. I turned to the ROT Front because it is close in spirit to me. And I appeal to everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of the Donbass and, most importantly, the ecology of the region: the waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. After all, we live and rest there. And then to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We need the support of the media and not only: the created resonance, I hope, will discourage the thieves. A commission should be set up to close the mines, with a survey of the miners. Not the directors and not their deputies, who were also steeped in theft, but the former miners should be asked about the profitability of coal mining. And at the same time about the willingness to work.
- Do the workers pay the so-called “war tax” - deductions to the Ukrainian treasury?
- I don’t know if coal is being shipped to Ukraine now, but earlier - yes, everyone knew about it. Nobody supports us - not a single organization, except for our "glorious" trade union. It is possible that intermediary firms are paying something from our revenue, but I have not observed from our already miserable salary. At least in reconciliations or tablets, as we call them. We get only a salary and a little service. Previously, there were night and evening ones, as well as harmfulness once, but it was all removed. There are also deductions to the union and income tax, sort of. And what is included in it, I do not know.
About the shipment to Kiev and on what conditions, too, do not know. It was rumored that under the guise of imported coal, either from America or from Europe, our coal was sold at exorbitant prices to Ukraine, another type of which Russia shipped to Ukraine under the guise of its own. But all this is rumor and newspaper news.
In 2014, after disconnecting from Ukraine, a lot of coal remained at the coal processing plant, from the sale of which we were promised a salary. But neither from the sale of shtyby ( Derivative products from coal mining. - Approx. Ed. ), Nor from the sale of coal we were not given money. They exported and sold it for several months. What volume, I do not know, no one has dedicated us. But heavy trucks worked all day and more than one month. And coal wagons also went in an unknown direction. The miners, who use coal in everyday life, didn’t get anything, even though they put 2 cars a year.
We had to get out ourselves: someone retired, someone helped pensioners, someone worked for a spouse, someone had child benefits. Personally, I have survived and am surviving due to part-time jobs: who needs some repairs, who needs help in the garden.
- Are the workers ready to fight, to oppose the closure of the mines?
- I have already said that the people are scared. Even when we offered the Donbassantratsit state-owned enterprise to manage the coal we earned ourselves at the expense of earnings, we received a sharp refusal with threats that machine gunners from the MGB would come to our hearts. And so more than once. Even for domestic purposes they did not allow me to bring it. Under these conditions, it is unlikely that anyone will decide on vigorous activity.
"what can I do alone?"
From this interview, our readers can draw conclusions about the real situation of the working people of Donbass and about the prospects awaiting them. It is possible that some of the Russians can see in this story a similarity with themselves and their enterprise. Indeed, similar trends are observed not only in Ukraine. But, despite all the ugliness of this picture, we still want to wish the hero of our interview and his colleagues spiritual strength to overcome the hardships and successes in their hard work. The ROT Front Party is always striving to provide all possible assistance and support to workers. Let's hope that by drawing attention to this situation, we will be able to help the miners of Donetsk and Lugansk improve their situation.
https://www.rotfront.su/bezrabotitsa-pr ... ol-ili-ka/
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