Government to allocate additional funds to pay off wage arears to miners

The Cabinet of Ministers has proposed amendments to the 2019 state budget to provide UAH 1 billion in additional funding for the salaries of coal miners, according to the press service of the Energy and Environmental Protection Ministry.

"The government has proposed amendments to the state budget for 2019 to provide an additional financing of the coal industry in the amount of UAH 1 billion,” reads the report.

Also, improving the efficiency of enterprises, measures for modernizing and restructuring of the coal industry, introducing new ranks will help reduce the subsidy burden on the budget, the ministry added.

As Ukrinform reported, the Cabinet of Ministers in the middle of August 2019 allocated UAH 250 million to partially repay wage arrears to coal miners. According to Chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners Mykhailo Volynets, the total debt to coal miners as of mid-August made up UAH 923.4 million.

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