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Romania miners’ strike sparks fear of power shortages
BUCHAREST, Jan 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – One of Romania’s main electricity plants
began shutting down on Thursday due to insufficient coal caused by a miners’
strike, operator Transelectrica said, sparking fears of power shortages
across the country.
The first of three units of the Rovinari thermal power plant was shut down
overnight, and the other two may cease activity later in the day, the company
said in a statement.
The shutdown comes in the wake of six days of strikes by miners at the CE
Oltenia combine in the south of the country, who are demanding better pay and
working conditions, unions said.
Union official Nicu Bunoaica told AFP that CE Oltenia’s 7,000 miners were
demanding an increase of 1,000 lei (213 euros, $240) in their monthly pay
packet. Their average take-home salary currently stands at around 500 euros.
CE Oltenia generates around 30 percent of Romania’s electricity needs.
To make up for possible shortages, Bucharest has increased electricity
imports in recent days but at prices well above those of local power
producers.
Energy Minister Anton Anton is expected to talk to miners and union leaders
on Thursday to try and defuse tensions.
Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said the situation was “very serious.”
“We are worried about the situation at CE Oltenia and the country’s energy
system,” she told a cabinet meeting.
“I asked for an urgent report about the coal stockpiles in comparison to
last year, a detailed analysis of the miners’ situation, their income and
working conditions, but also solutions for modernising CE Oltenia,” she said.
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The prime minister had also consulted “all national security structures”.
Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007, has promised Brussels it
will gradually close its coal mines and turn to non-polluting sources of
energy.
But in recent years, Bucharest has asked to postpone the closures in order
to limit lay-offs of miners.
CE Oltenia ran up losses of around one billion lei (213 million euros) in
2018 as coal mining becomes less and less profitable.
BSS/AFP/SR/1825 HRS