20 May 2004 05:46
Duma to discuss hunger strike in Khakasia on Friday
MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - The State Duma on Friday will discuss the hunger strike being held by Khakasia coal
miners who are demanding their salaries.
The issue was discussed at a Thursday meeting of the Duma Council, and is to be discussed again at a plenary meeting
of the State Duma on Friday, Speaker Boris Gryzlov said.
"I think it is a scandalous situation," Gryzlov said. It would have been possible to prevent the hunger
strike and provide for the payment of salaries, and trade unions could have contributed to that more insistently, he
noted.
Over 150 coal miners began their hunger strike on May 17 to demand payment of salary arrears, which averaged 200,000
rubles per worker.
Two workers from the Yeniseiskaya coal mine based in Chernogorsk, Khakasia, have already been hospitalized. Doctors
have advised another ten miners to stop the hunger strike because of their serious condition. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG COA
JOB POL] te tj <>
[Interfax] |
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