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Miners say new government reneges on back wages deal
By Russell Working
and Nonna Chernyakova
Striking Sakhalin coal miners say the firing of Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko and his cabinet threaten an agreement to pay workers back wages and may force them to again shut down the power supply throughout the island.
Sakhalin News:
Cobra robot to replace Sakhalin shelf divers…Layoffs spark unrest …Sakhalin and Hokkaido to sign agreement…Sakhalin schools to go online…
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Sakhalin Briefs
Cobra robot to replace Sakhalin shelf divers
A Vladivostok-based institute has developed an deep-sea robot to construct and maintain facilities for the Sakhalin oil and gas projects. The device, named Cobra, was developed by Institute of Issues of Marine Technology and presented at a recent conference on the Sakhalin shelf held recently in Primorye. The institute said Cobra will replace divers in working on underwater construction projects.
Layoffs spark unrest
The threat of layoffs at oil company Rosneft-Sakhalinmorneftegaz has sparked unrest in northern Sakhalin. According to the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Workers Union, about 3,500 people, of the company’s 12,000 total employees, stand to be laid off. The company is in a dire financial straits resulting from a severe drop in world oil prices and enormous debts owed to it by domestic consumers, said Rosneft-SMNG’s press service.
Sakhalin and Hokkaido to sign agreement
Sakhalin Gov. Igor Farkhutdinov and the Hokkaido prefecture Gov. Tatsuya Hori plan to sign an economic treaty when the Japanese official visits Sakhalin in November, Farkhutdinov announced. The treaty will be a solution to many problems preventing economic cooperation between the two bordering territories, he said. Meanwhile, during a visit of a Sakhalin delegation to Hokkaido the week of Aug. 23, the two sides agreed on a joint explorations of the Kuril Island volcanoes.
Schools to go online
Exxon Neftegaz Ltd., operator for the Sakhalin 1 project, recently earmarked $100,000 to fund a project for Sakhalin school and college students to use the Internet as a educational tool, the company announced Aug. 26. Under the grant, two departments at Sakhalin State University and two secondary schools will receive computers and supplementary equipment. Also, a dedicated Internet line, along with a local area network, will be set up to link the institutions. The Vladivostok-based Eurasia Foundation will manage the grant, Exxon’s public relations office reported.
Compiled from press and Interfax-Eurasia news reports.
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