Miners in warning strike

Danilo Mijatović

Miners at the Kolubara open pit mines held an hour long warning strike on Thursday demanding higher pay and blocking the transport of coal to the Nikola Tesla thermal power plant (TENT) in Obrenovac.

The strike was organized by the EPS Kolubara Union. The protest did not have the backing of a second Kolubara union.

Miner Nikola Matejic told an N1 reporter that they want higher pay and dignity. He said that a large number of the miners had temporary contracts for years and had been working for monthly salaries of 150 Euro which had been raised to 400 Euro.

Mine union leaders said they hoped for some kind of deal in talks with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, with one of the union leaders claiming that they had been promised a pay rise and a three-year plan for the national power company EPS which Kolubara is part of .