Breza miners continue work stoppage over unpaid July wages

The Breza miners began their work stoppage over unpaid July wages and the lack of information about when they might be paid. Wages are usually paid by the 10th of each month, Telalovic said.

"We have nothing more to look for in Breza from our management because they do not have the money to pay the wages. We have a meeting scheduled tomorrow at EPBiH headquarters to agree on a date for the payment of wages. However, we have scheduled a protest outside the EPBiH building for Thursday, August 20, starting at 10 a.m. and lasting until 1 p.m.," he said.

"If we fail to reach an agreement tomorrow, the protest will be held on Thursday. If there is still no agreement then, we would protest again outside EPBiH at the same time, while on Monday we would also hold a protest outside the Federation of BiH Government building," Telalovic announced.

He said the Breza mine had run into production problems because equipment, including the longwall mining system, is being relocated from a 450-meter-deep mine shaft.

"This is equipment worth KM 30 million, but it is exposed to enormous pressure, and the goal is to protect it and install it at another location. We agreed on all of this with EPBiH, but they are now telling us that we do not have sufficient production to pay the wages. That's not accurate either. Last month we mined coal worth KM 2.2 million, and we need KM 1.8 million to KM 1.9 million to pay the wages. But they say that we previously took out some loans," Telalovic said, stressing that it was unfair not to take into account the fact that the mine is operating with fewer miners.