Kazakhstan miners need support
The following message was issued by Vassilli Myasnikov, president of the Independent Miners Union of the Western Donbass (Ukraine) on May 28.
The miners of Karaganda from Kazakhstan have been on strike since May 18. The strike has been organised by the Independent Miners Union of Karaganda, to demand that an agreement be signed which will provide reasonable working conditions and pay. (The average monthly pay of a Karaganda miner is 3000 tenge. On the black market US$1 is equivalent to between 60 and 70 tenge.)
On May 28, 21 miners stayed down the pit, and of these seven are on hunger strike. Four miners (at the Fifty Years of the October Revolution mine) have been on hunger strike since May 20.
The miners intend to stand firm to the end. The mine administration has taken them to court.
The strike organisers can be contacted on: Fax 7 3212 57 72 93.
Phone 7 3212 56 42 70.
[From Labour Chronicle Russian Radio Show via Pegasus.]