Prague, Oct 5 (CTK) – The government approved on Wednesday, by a narrow majority, compensations for miners sacked from other mines in the Czech Republic than OKD, Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek (Social Democrats, CSSD) said on Twitter yesterday.
However, these miners working on the ground will get lower sums than those from the OKD company’s black-coal mines whose compensations the government approved earlier.
Finance Minister and Deputy PM Andrej Babis (ANO) is opposed to the compensation payment to further miners.
The miners should receive a monthly compensation of 5300 crowns instead of the originally proposed 7000 crowns.
The new compensations will apply, for instance, to workers of the CSA brown-coal mines, employees of the uranium mines Dolni Rozinka, south Moravia, and the Slezska dulni dila firm, which separated from OKD in the past.
The miners sacked from deep underground mines are to get 8000 crowns for up to five years.
According to the draft, the total compensation costs are to amount some 200 million crowns by 2018 and some 650 million by 2023.
The ministers postponed the decision on the compensations for miners at the end of July. ANO was against it, while the senior ruling Social Democrats (CSSD) supported it and the junior government Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) took a reserved stance on it.
However, the CSSD and the KDU-CSL have apparently agreed on it now.
The compensation is to be paid from the state budget, the chapter of the Industry and Trade Ministry.
Babis criticised the measure, saying it is a contribution to “oligarch” and coal tycoon Pavel Tykac.
The cabinet approved compensations for dismissed employees of the OKD mining company, which faces bankruptcy, in May. They will get 7000, or 8000 crowns monthly over a limited period, ranging from three months to five years, depending on the time the recipients worked for the OKD and their age.
The proposal approved on Wednesday stipulates the same length of the compensation payment.
