Miners took to the streets of Petrosani Wednesday, shouting slogans against the government and saying they have lost their patience. They also say the government knows they exist only when tragic events, like mine blasts, occur.
Economy Ministry officials and unionists met Wednesday morning for talks to set a new price of gigacalorie for coal extracted in the Jiu Valley, considering no contract on the price of gigacalorie was concluded between the national coal company CNH and the two thermal power plants buying coal. Also, CNH officials and a delegation of three unionists and three miners will reach Bucharest Wednesday afternoon for talks with Economy Ministry officials.
Economy Minister Lucian Bode decided Tuesday that CNH Petrosani will pay the third tranche of severance to laid off miners staring Wednesday, March 7. The ministry said in a press release that on March 7, CNH will start procedures to allot the sum needed for the payment of the third tranche of severance pay to workers made redundant in 2011.
In January this year, the Economy Ministry signed a protocol with the unions representing miners of CNH Petrosani, regarding the payment of a new tranche of severance pay to workers laid off in 2011. The ministry said at the time that the protocol resolved issues regarding the payment of the third tranche of severance to personnel laid off in 2011, the personnel deficit created by departures for retirement in 2012, and created the legal framework to set the delivery price for coal back in relation to the company’s production costs.