Approximately 300 miners barricaded themselves underground on Tuesday in the Vulcan coal mine of the Jiu Valley in western Romania; in the above-ground premises, office staff joined the protest of two pit shifts.
They are worried about the possible bankruptcy of the state-owned Hunedoara Energy Complex (CEH), comprising of four coal mines and two thermal power plants with a total of 6,300 employees. The company is currently insolvent.
Disgruntled miners began their protests on Monday, with nearly 250 of them, of all four shifts, refusing to leave another CEH mine in Lonea. They asked Energy Minister Victor Grigorescu to come on site before they get out of the pit. On Monday night, 15 of them announced they are also on a hunger strike; six were eventually taken out to get medical assistance. More…