The decision-making process in favor of attracting foreign workers was not cloudless. As expected, the miners' union expressed its displeasure, stating that there is actually no labor shortage and that about 3,000 miners in Kentucky cannot find jobs. Indeed, from July 1, 2000 alone, 1,400 coal industry workers applied to state unemployment registration authorities. However, state industrialists argue that the average age of a miner in Kentucky is 47 years, and older people are reluctant to work for new companies where they have to start from the bottom. In addition, they believe that many former miners have found other jobs. For these reasons, employer efforts to attract workers have yielded almost no results.
The biggest problem is related to concerns that foreign workers do not have the necessary training and do not speak English, which raises safety issues in mining operations. Last week, these issues were discussed in Washington by a delegation from the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals and representatives of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. They have not yet been finally resolved, but most experts believe that hiring workers who have the required level of training and have a basic knowledge of English should be allowed. Retraining will include a 40-hour training course plus 45 days of work under the supervision of experienced miners.
Bill Grable, executive director of the Kentucky Coal Council, believes that the main incentive for Ukrainian workers is high wages (newly arrived miners will receive about 3,000 dollars a month) and better safety conditions (the mortality rate of miners in the United States is more than 7 times lower than in Ukraine). In addition, in Kentucky it is reasonably believed that Ukrainian workers are characterized by excellent work ethic and extensive experience.
Negotiations on hiring Ukrainian miners are conducted by Richard Bond, a business consultant from Boston, and one of Lexington's law firms is handling entry documents. According to Bill Grable, if the conditions set for miners are not too strict, the influx of foreign miners to Kentucky will increase.
The editorial board asked the deputy chairman of the Independent Miners' Union of Ukraine, Anatoly AKIMOCHKIN, to comment on this information. Here is what Anatoly Viktorovich replied:
– Frankly speaking, this information came as a surprise to us. We have close contacts with coal miners in the United States, and just the other day we spoke with the leadership of one of the miners' unions, but nothing of the sort was discussed. Therefore, we will definitely find out who is organizing this action and at what level.
If we really assess some points in the material, experience and common sense make us doubt their correspondence to reality. For example, the phrase: "...newly arrived miners will receive about 3,000 dollars a month." It is known that the labor of foreign workers has always been valued lower than local workers. Moreover, every capitalist counts his money. And if he invites foreigners to work, knowing in advance that they will work excellently even for less money, naturally they will be offered a minimum wage.
Second. Today, there is also a shortage of miners in the domestic coal industry. Therefore, it is doubly unclear who and why decided to send scarce specialists (and the best ones, I think, will go) overseas.
The third issue of concern is the problem of language and adaptation of our people in a foreign country. I doubt that any of the miners have perfect command of English. On the other hand, we also do not yet know what mechanisms will be provided to assist Ukrainian miners by the union.
In a word, there are more questions than answers. Therefore, we will make every effort to find out all these points and share reliable information on the pages of the upcoming issues of the newspaper "Zagranitsa".