Electrical Workers Clouding Strike Issue, Says Minister
Plans by Narva electrical workers to reduce power output at the Estonia's two largest power plants on March 9 are hard to fathom and are clouding the teachers' strike issue, Environment Minister Keit Pentus has said.
Speaking during a parliamentary question session on March 7, Pentus, who is currently filling in as Prime Minister, said that while most of those supporting teachers' demands for higher salaries were clear in their positions, there were others claiming to support the strike “whose position and demands remain, honestly speaking, rather incomprehensible.”
“For example, I don't understand who is leading or for whose benefit workers the Narva power plants [...] threatened to reduce the generation of electricity. This is not an issue where you can joke in this way, and we're talking about actions that are inconsistent with Estonian law,” said Pentus, as quoted by Delfi.
The Narva Energy Union said Monday that its workers would reduce electrical output to a minimum at the plants in support of this week's strikes, but Tõnu Aas, CEO of Narva Elektrijaamad, later said that the company would not accept a power reduction. By law, any such reduction would have to be agreed by the union and the plant before it could take place.
Trade unions in a wide variety of fields will be striking at various times this week in support of teachers' demands for a 20 percent minimum salary rise and to protest the planned amendment to the Collective Bargaining Act. The combined actions are the biggest strike in Estonia's postwar history.
Steve Roman