The union of miners in Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) part has announced a general strike on September 13th after a failed meeting between their representatives, tax authorities and the FBiH Minister of Mining, Energy and Industry as some 500 miners protested in front of the FBiH Government building on Tuesday.

The FBiH tax authority has in August blocked the accounts of the coal mines in Zenica and Breza over debts amounting to 211 million Bosnian Marks, which prevents the payment of salaries to the miners.

“It is about salaries, it is about the closing of the mine in Zenica. These are existential problems, people are waiting for their salaries and their meal allowances,” one of the miners from Zenica told N1.

Some three hundred miners of the Zenica coal mine have begun their strike and about 150 of them entered the mine, refusing to leave. They agreed that as new miners come in for their shift, they will simply join those already striking underground.