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12 August, 2005ICEM news release No. 41/2002
In a strongly worded letter of protest sent today to Ukraine president, Leonid Kuchma, the 20-million strong ICEM condemned the continued brutal suppression of coal miners involved in a bitter year-long campaign to have their arrear wages paid. This winter will be long and hard for the brave miners already paying a heavy price for their protests.
In the most recent attack, heavily armed police forces without search warrants, stormed into the Donbass regional offices of the union at night and confiscated unions papers, filing cabinets and boxes. The confiscation was apparently ordered by the office of Pavlograd Prosecutor, AS Gashenko. According to Independent Miners Union President, Mikhail Volynets, this latest action is part of a state-sponsored "vicious campaign to paralyse the union in that region, which has been at the forefront in the protest against unpaid wages and other benefits." According to Volynets, government debt to the miners has reached a staggering one and a half billion gryvnas ($US 281 million).
"The unpaid coal miners and their families have not only endured severe hardship but live under constant state terror", said Volynets. The union has also filed several complaints against Kuchma's government with the International Labour Organisation citing violations of conventions relating to freedom of association, the right to organise and the protection of wages. A further grievance of the union has been government squandering of international loans allocated to the coal industry to service government debt.
In support of the miners, ICEM General Secretary, Fred Higgs, challenged Kuchma to end this vicious campaign against the miners and seek an amicable solution. Government's response, says Higgs, "is simply to silence the legitimate voice of the unpaid miners and destroy their union. The workers and their families have our full support. We will not let them fight this battle alone". In the process, government must take full responsibility for destroying the once-mighty coal industry of Ukraine". The ICEM warns that governments " anti-union strategy will inevitably given the determination of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine to receive their pay".
This latest attack comes on the eve of the ICEM's World Energy Conference scheduled for 27-29 November in Rome. Higgs warned Kuchma that the plight of the Ukraine coal miners and the families will no doubt receive the attention of some three hundred trade union leaders from across the world.
Letter fro ICEM's Fred Higgs to President Leonid Kuchma:
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma
President of Ukraine
01220,11, Bankova Street,
Kiev
Ukraine
BY E-MAIL & FAX TO: + (380 – 44) 291 61 61 1 PAGE
21 November 2002
Dear Mr. President,
The ICEM, on behalf of its 20 million members worldwide condemns with contempt your brutal suppression of the trade union leaders involved in a legitimate campaign for the payment of their wage arrears on behalf of their members in the Donbass region.
Over the past twelve months, the unpaid coal miners and their families have not only endured severe hardship because of non-payment of their due wages but also heavy-handed illegal actions at the hands of your government. In the process, your government has suppressed the most basic democratic principles of workers’ right to organise and to freedom of association in violation of the ILO Conventions 87 and 98. In addition, despite your ratification of the ILO Convention No. 95 on Protection of Wages, you have accumulated a debt of one and a half billion gryvans owed to the workers and this is increasing everyday. When are you going to pay workers?
Your response is simply to silence the voice of miners and unleash a campaign to destroy their union, the Independent Miners of Ukraine. Equally, your actions are slowly destroying the once mighty coal industry of Ukraine. Is this the best answer you have at your disposal? Your anti-union strategy will inevitably fail given the determination of the workers and their families to fight a just cause. An amicable solution to the problem lies in your hands.
Next week more than three hundred leaders from our energy unions across the world will be gathering in Rome. We intend highlighting the desperate plight of our brothers and sisters in your country. No doubt, they will not be pleased by your current actions. This is the challenge we put to you. Should you fail, history will judge you harshly. The workers and their families have the full support of the ICEM. We will not let them fight this battle alone.
Yours truly,
Fred Higgs
General Secretary