Salary debts at state mines have exceeded 800 million UAH.
According to the Independent Miners Union of Ukraine chairman Mikhail Volynets, the unions demand 4.6 billion UAH in the 2017 budget to support the state coal sector, which will at any rate allow paying wages in time. But this money will not be enough to buy all the necessary equipment and develop state mines.
Unions also demand balanced price for coal purchase.
State mines are managed by the Ministry of energy and coal industry, headed by Igor Nasalik, who has said time and again that he would clear all salary debts to miners, but never actually did. (Ukrainian metal)