About 150 miners protested in the yard of the state-owned coal mining company CNH and others have joined them throughout the demonstration. Miners have been protesting since Monday and unions have asked the Economy Ministry to increase hazardous work bonuses by 100 lei (about EUR23) to RON700, and raise the price of coal delivered to energy producers.
Union leaders told protesters authorities had a defiant attitude during negotiations and no solutions had been put forward for the coal mining industry.
Miners are mainly disgruntled at the non-observance of a memorandum approved by former economy minister Ion Ariton, which was supposed to increase their bonuses for hazardous working conditions and would have raised their wages by some 10%.
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.
CNH employs 7,800 people.