Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003023399
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
About 1,500 miners waving banners calling for the resignations gathered in front of party headquarters, and 24 miners announced a hunger strike until the party leaders quit, said Nikolai Ponomarenko, a regional strike committee member.
The walkout followed a six-hour "warning strike" Thursday.
Strike leaders in the city 500 miles south of Moscow said they believe the party leadership will interfere in the campaigning in the Ukraine for Sunday's multiparty elections, which also will take place in Russia and Byelorussia.
They also said there is dissatisfaction that promises made after coal strikes in the region last summer are not being implemented quickly enough. Miners had demanded better living and working conditions as well as local autonomy.
Yuri Smirnov, the chairman of the Donetsk city council, said on local radio that the walkout shut down two shafts and partially idled a third, an action he described as a "political strike."
The warning strike affected the Thursday afternoon shift at a number of mines in Donetsk, according to the TV news show "Vremya." But the official news agency Tass said miners at a strike committee meeting were reluctant to go along, saying the walkout would aggravate the economic situation.
Ponomarenko said that at the rally outside party headquarters, city officials refused to allow the use of loudspeakers because the gathering was not approved and speeches could spark disorder.
Radio Moscow said the local party committee put off consideration of the miners' demand that they resign until a regional party conference in April.
by CNB