Prague, May 11 (CTK) – The Czech cabinet approved on Wednesday a subsidy for the employees to be laid off by the problem-ridden OKD black coal mining firm, PM Bohuslav Sobotka said, adding that 7,000 or 8,000 crowns will monthly go to them for up to five years depending on their age and the number of years in OKD.
The proposal was submitted by Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek (Social Democrats, CSSD) with the aim to soften the social impact of the winding down of the coal mining by OKD.
Mladek told journalists during the cabinet meeting on Wednesday that his proposal was criticised by Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO), but in the end the cabinet supported it unanimously.
Sobotka (CSSD) said the decision is an important step in support of the people and the region concerned.
He said the government’s goal is to maintain OKD operation.
“At the same time, the Diamo state enterprise is ready to employ a part of the laid-off miners,” Sobotka said in a press release.
He said the situation will continue to be dealt with by a working group comprised of representatives of the government, unions, employers and the region.
The OKD is a private company seated in the Moravia-Silesia Region, which has the highest unemployment rate in the Czech Republic.
The Industry and Trade Ministry said the subsidy will be paid for three months to the employees who worked in OKD for two to five years. The period of payment will increase by three months for every other year of the employee’s work.
The most endangered group of miners over 50 who worked for 25 years in OKD at least and completed at least 3,300 shifts underground could receive the subsidy for five years, the ministry said.
This exception will also apply to employees in other professions who are over 55.
Babis previously challenged the Industry and Trade Ministry’s proposal that the state subsidies should go not only to the laid-off miners and other OKD employees but also the staff of other ten companies.
Babis objected that the proposed range of the eligible subsidy recipients was too wide. He said the government should apply the present types of subsidies to help the laid-off OKD personnel rather than further increase the state budget expenditures.
Babis also rejected the idea of the subsidies also going to the laid-off employees of brown coal mines.
The Industry and Trade Ministry told CTK on Wednesday that the subsidies the cabinet approved apply to OKD employees only.
The subsidies will cost the state 1.19 billion crowns by 2021. Out of the sum, 1.1 billion will go to 3,403 miners and the rest to 243 employees of other professions, according to an analysis of the measure’s impact.
If the measure applied to another ten companies, the total costs would reach 2.99 billion crowns.
