SARAJEVO Reuters - About 7,000 miners will return to Bosnia's seven coal mines after securing a deal with the government and state-owned Elektroprivreda BiH EPBiH power utility on wages and pensions, officials said on Wednesday, bringing an end to a 9 day protest.
The miners stopped work last week in support of colleagues who protested in the capital Sarajevo against what they said were violations of work and pay regulations.
EPBiH General Manager Admir Andelija said at the time that power production at the largest coal-fired Tuzla power plant was under threat due to only 10 days of coal reserves, and the company could have to raise electricity prices.
The agreement will pay miners outstanding pensions accumulated over the past decades, which Andelija said was close to 500 million Bosnian marka $288.2 million and a higher basic salary.
Andelija said that the agreement is not going to endanger the operation of EPBiH.
He said that EPBiH and the government of Bosnia's autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation, where the mines are located, agreed to raise the price of coal by 20% from 2022, as requested by trade union representatives. There would be no price hikes for households next year.
The deal is needed to unlock the restructured of indebted coal mines as part of a government plan to switch to renewable energy sources from coal and reduce the number of miners to 5,200 over the next several years, according to Federation Industry and Energy Minister Nermin Dzindic.