Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov said referring to a miners’ strike in Severouralsk that he conducted a meeting of the government, trade unions, public prosecution authorities, the region’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, and UC RUSAL (the mine proprietor) representatives on Tuesday.

‘We looked into the ways of solving this problem, and UC RUSAL’s management assured us in the course of this meeting that they intended to implement all of their social projects, including an investment program for Severouralsk bauxite mine development. In addition, the company will carry on building a new mine,’ Mr. Koksharov said.

‘The company’s top executives promised they were intent on the unquestioning fulfillment of their collective agreement and on discussing the arising problems at the negotiations table. This is true of the collective agreement for 2009-2010 and the workers’ demands regarding this future agreement as well,’ he added.