World IN BRIEF : RUSSIA : 600,000 Coal Miners Strike for One Day
About 600,000 Russian coal miners went on strike, and union officials said the one-day stoppage would cost the nation 1 million tons of lost production. An official of the miners’ union said 80% of the membership heeded the call to strike and that 210 mines were affected. The strikers, many of whom have not been paid since October, want the government to hand over $650 million in back wages and to draw up a program to help restructure the coal industry. The miners have threatened to turn their action into a political strike if Moscow does not meet their demands by March 1. This would mean calling on the government to resign and demanding new presidential elections.
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