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Bulgarian Court to Rule on Legality of State Mines Strikes |
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Tuesday, 10 January 2012The management of Maritsa Iztok Mines AD will address the Stara Zagora District Court, seeking that the looming strike at the state-owned coal mining company be declared illegal.
A one-hour warning rally will be staged on Tuesday, while the actual strike will start on Sunday.
In the beginning of 2012, the National Institute for Conciliation and Arbitration (NICA) allowed the miners to go on strike, specifying that it could last until energy supplies were disrupted.
After that, the management of Maritsa Iztok Mines AD submitted another claim with the NICA, asking it to reconsider its stance on the matter.
NICA has not yet presented its stance on the matter.
The Stara Zagora District Court will review the claim submitted by the management of the state-owned company within a seven-day period, meaning that there will be no changes to the scheduled start of the strike activity.
The subsequent turn of events will be determined by the court's decision.
The argument between the management of Maritsa Iztok Mines AD and the syndicates at the state-owned company has been going on for a month, but the talks have failed to bring a resolution.
The syndicates insist that the employer comply with the agreement signed on July 12, 2011 regulating the relative share of the wage costs against the company's revenues.
They claim that Evgeni Stoykov, CEO of Maritsa Iztok Mines AD withdrew his signature from the document despite the anticipated BGN 500 M in revenues of the company, thereby leaving the miners without year-end bonuses.
The management of Maritza Iztok Mines AD, however, has said that it has fulfilled all of its commitments under the agreement.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov sided with the company's governing body, saying that the miners were better paid than the Finance Minister.
Maritza Iztok Mines AD responded by saying that each day on strike would incur BGN 1.6-1.8 M in unrealized revenues.
Asked to comment on the matter, Energy Minister Traicho Traikov noted that he appreciated the work of the miners, who had doubled the output of the company, but added that the 15% pay rise they had been given had been an adequate reward.
Traikov declared that there would be no strike because the wages were high, the company was in excellent financial condition and the management had honored its payment commitments.
The Energy Minister also assured that there would be no power outages.
The three open-pit mines at Maritsa Iztok Mines AD supply coal to four thermal power plants, whose output covers 25% of the country's electricity needs.
The state-owned company has a total headcount of 7100. |
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Novinite
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