Zenica miners announce highway blockade in fight for salaries

Zenica miners declared labour disobedience on March 25, and since yesterday they have been on the streets demanding salaries from February and contributions from January.

They spent the night outdoors, and this morning they told N1 that they will block the M-17 highway.

The Zenica City Council unanimously accepted the request to unblock the account of the Zenica Brown Coal Mine Subsidiary, but this did not create the conditions for the protest to end. Mayor Kasumovic did not attend the City Council session, and although the miners have been asking since yesterday that he authorizes someone to unblock the company's account on their behalf, no one from the City Administration has yet responded.

The mine's account was blocked based on the interest for the use of construction land, compensation for which the principal was paid earlier, but the interest of some three million Bosnian marks (around €1.5 mil) was never written off, which is why the City of Zenica has been blocking the miners' account every month for the last 18 months.

Miners say they won't back down.