Workers Die on the Mines of World Raptor Mittal

Source: socialismkz.info

Methane explosions, deaths of workers toes, worn out equipment, breakdown of manufacture, no-charge overtime to execute a plan, threat of job-cuts - all this takes place on pits, mines and blast furnaces of steel empire Laksmi Mittal. Constant reduction of earnings of miners and metallurgists of the Karaganda area is added also to constant accidents. Conciliatory commission has come to nothing, yellow trade union "Korgau" just imitated visibility of negotiations with owners from "Arselor Mittal", now the salary of miners is lowered by 14% since July, 1st. New tragedy took place before this decrease on mine "Tenteksky" which can turn into a massive strike.

On June, 28th at 11:14 p.m. on mine "Tenteksky" that is situated in Shahtinsk of the Karaganda area methane emission took place. As a result three miners died, one more was taken to the local hospital with various traumas. According to the journalist of the newspaper "Vremya" Sergey Perhalsky, the tragedy took place at 11:14 p.m. in a preparatory toe of conveyor road 193 D6-U. At that moment there were 94 miners in the mine, four of them - in the emergency area. Only 27-year-old machinist of tunneling machine Vasily Shtentsel survived. He was taken to Shahtinsk city hospital with serious traumas.

According to indications of devices, concentration of methane in emergency toe during just few seconds increased up to 100 percent. As a result of sudden emission more than a half of emergency deadlock of the toe was filled up with mined rock with weight more than one and a half thousand tons. In such conditions the drifters Arthur Guk, Ruslan Popov and Nikolay Pnevmunchuk practically had no chances to survive. However, the authoritative leader of miners and representative of Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakhstan Pavel Shumkin thinks differently.

"Arthur Guk died on hands of companion Shevchyuk Dima. He choked in "self-killer" which is present in all mines from Soviet period. It's a crying fact as till this day all commissions "on investigation of reasons of accidents" never called in question possibility of people to escape during emergency. The main thing is "to get in "self-rescuer" correctly". For example, on the mine "Sokursky" where 40 people remained to hang on an underground rope-way ostensibly because, according to commission, they failed to get in. There are tens and hundreds of such cases. Now it is found out that all these "self-rescuers" are something like bones on a neck of Papuans to drive evil spirits away", - the leader - working says.

From his part the employer put on a theatrical mask of grief. "We take hard what happened on mine "Tenteksky"", - the general director of joint-stock company "Arselor Mittal of Temirtau", doctor Frank Pannir said. Then added: "Loss of each person for us - irreplaceable loss. All of us grieve over our lost colleagues and we offer sympathy to the families and the staff of the mine "Tenteksky". As self-justification employer declared that corporation allocated for re-equipment of mines 150 billion dollars. Though the miners confirm the opposite saying that system of ventilation and life-support on all eight mines of coal department are 30-year-old.

Equipment is completely worn out and there's still plan system of extraction, for this very reason people work evenings on Sunday and in the end of a month. Mines are still not decontaminated, though minister of Emergencies Sergey Bozhko "horsed about" after last accident on the same mine when another emission carried away lives of five people. This accident - was planned as well as all other because the owner of mines and employed personnel of managers are sure of their impunity. On the contrary, for last five years additional reductions of brigades supporting life-support and safety of extraction took place on mines in the Karaganda area.

In reply to mournful statements of salesmen of Mittal and local officials Pavel Shumkin becomes indignant and asks emotionally: "Who will bring representatives of the commission to account for system crimes of representatives of the company and supervising bodies? Who will ask why such things happen and who was responsible for the signatures and speeches put? How did Sergey Bozhko explain a chain of "sudden natural phenomena" on the mines of Karaganda for which nobody bears responsibility? It means the government signed with the employer the document which allowed it to kill people and did not guarantee citizens - miners right to a life. Whether mass-media will ask commission questions of socially-civil character or everything will be settled by recording of the named by commission facts?".

How many lives of miners are necessary to bring on altar of superprofits of Lakshmi Mittal that a new wave of protest would arise among workers? However everybody in the city of Shahtinsk wait for strike explosion of miners to the 20th anniversary of the first strikes. Now, despite of a treacherous role of trade union "Korgau", work of special services and pressure of corporation prestrike situation is being developed on many enterprises of Mittal in the Karaganda area. Local authorities still abstain from comments and do not hurry up to declare mourning. Special, not governmental commission which structure included experts of coal department and representatives of state structures has been created to carry out emergency investigation.

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