Ukraine coal miners fight gov’t attacks, resist Moscow’s war

By Roy Landersen
February 3, 2025
Members of Independent Trade Union of Mineworkers of Ukraine from Lviv Coal State Enterprise protest at Ministry of Energy in Kyiv Aug. 1 demanding payment of wage arrears.
NPGUMembers of Independent Trade Union of Mineworkers of Ukraine from Lviv Coal State Enterprise protest at Ministry of Energy in Kyiv Aug. 1 demanding payment of wage arrears.

Ukrainian working people are the heart and soul of the fight to defend their country’s sovereignty against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s murderous invasion. Ukrainian workers also bear the biggest effects of the economic burden of the war on production, transportation and jobs. And they face a long-running battle with the bosses and their government, which use the cover of the war to press their attacks on union rights, wages and job conditions.

Coal miners, members of the Independent Trade Union of Mineworkers of Ukraine (NPGU) at the government-owned Lviv Coal State Enterprise, held a protest in Kyiv Aug. 1-2 demanding payment of wage arrears and unpaid sick leave. To help fund this, they demanded the company sell coal it has been stockpiling.

In a meeting with cabinet ministers Aug. 5, the union made some progress. They won back pay of 20 million Ukrainian hryvnia ($474,000) but 600 million hryvnia in owed wages still remains to be paid. The total of wages in arrears at mines across the country has grown to 1,375 billion hryvnia, the Ministry of Energy admits.

Mykhailo Volynets, president of the NPGU and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, and a member of parliament, joined three other legislators to get a bill passed for a year-long moratorium on closing bankrupt state-owned coal and uranium mines. Volynets criticized government ministers who “cynically ignore mining problems, proposing solutions in an abstract future — perhaps never.”

At a time when workers are sacrificing both on the job and at the front for the country’s defense, Ukrainian bosses are pressing for radical changes to the Labor Code that would weaken the unions and threaten workers’ rights. Employers would be allowed to spy on workers, alter working hours and break times at will, limit maternity leaves and arbitrarily dismiss workers.

The new law, which was sprung on the union movement New Year’s Eve, would also waive provisions on labor rights at companies with foreign ownership and in the so-called gig economy. And it would grant bosses more leeway to lock out workers in any dispute with the unions.

Workers defend their rights

Volynets called for “labor collectives,” workers and miners to organize actions against these proposals.

The NPGU Trade Union News reported Dec. 13 that the majority of legislators, supposedly the “servants of the people,” adopted a bill Nov. 21 that will “completely deprive people with special needs of social protection,” especially those with disabilities, including war veterans and retired workers.

“Many of our union members are currently holding the front,” said Yuriy Kryvoruchko, an official of the NPGU for Western Donbas. Thousands of miners have volunteered for the army. Their co-workers still on the job volunteer to help them. They scour for spare parts lying idle on the job and other supplies needed by army colleagues.

Oleg Yeliseyev, a mine electrician for 20 years, is using his free time at work to fulfill requests from mine workers at the front. He is currently working on making starters the army has not been able to fix for tanks and other heavy military equipment. He is also working on a portable battery charger with enough power to weld, so soldiers can perform some minor repairs themselves.

These initiatives, along with the battles the unions are forced to wage against boss attacks, show the challenges facing working people trying to defend their sovereignty under capitalist rule, as well as their determination to prevail.