Prague, June 6 (CTK) – The tripartite body including members of the Czech cabinet, unions and employers set up a working group yesterday to deal with the situation in the Moravia-Silesia Region now that the OKD coal mining company has been declared bankrupt, Labour Minister Michaela Marksova told reporters.
Josef Stredula, head of the umbrella Bohemian and Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS) said the group will deal with a material the Industry and Trade Ministry will draft in reaction to the OKD management’s request for the state’s help.
OKD has proposed that it be declared bankrupt in early May. It owes over 17 billion crowns to more than 650 creditors and is unable to repay the debt. Its assets stand at seven billion crowns. The Regional Court in Ostrava, north Moravia, declared OKD bankrupt later in May.
Last week, OKD said it will address a joint letter of the OKD management and bankruptcy administrator to Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) and ask him for help in the credit financing of OKD.
In the days to come it will be clear whether the OKD managed to secure money to cover its employees’ wages for May.
In early June, the court established an interim committee of OKD’s creditors. In the committee, the state is represented through the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSZ), and the other two members are the Revirni bratrska pokladna insurance company and the Advanced World Transport company.
The OKD black-coal mines are still operating. The firm has some 9800 regular staff, 2500 employees at supplier companies and 200 workers hired via agencies. Its closure would also affect thousands of people in related professions. OKD is struggling for survival owing to falling prices of coal as well as due to its high debts, according to analysts.
($1=24.221 crowns)
