Ukrainian farmers' fight for the fairness

Since summer of 2015 Ukrainian farmers are protesting against changes in the Tax Code of Ukraine, proposed by Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. According to these changes, state recompense of tax on the additional value is cancelled to agrarian enterprises-producers (except exporters), farmland payment and fixed agricultural tax are increased very much in 2016. Demanding to reject government’s bill, agrarians held meetings near regional state administrations in the various regions of Ukraine in summer and on the beginning of December. Farmers also held large rallies in Kyiv on the 17^th December, bringing to the parliamentary building chopped off cow heads with fir branches, and on the 24^th December 2015, carrying there dead pig in the coffin with several funeral wreaths as the symbols of the farming decline. But exactly on the 24^th December the people’s deputies of Ukraine didn’t listen to Ukrainian peasantry and voted in favour of changing of Tax Code, abolishing special tax regime and enhancing taxes for the agriculture. So then during the next days (the 26^th-30^th December) at the different time farmers had been blocking many principal highways in the country, such as Kharkiv–Simferopol, Kyiv–Kharkiv, Chernivtsi–Kyiv, Odesa–Melitopol, Kirovohrad–Mykolayiv, Kyiv–Chernihiv, Zhytomyr–Vinnytsya, Kyiv–Chop etc. Nowadays agrarians warn that they’ll continue to block the roads if President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko doesn’t veto accepted bill or if the High Council of Ukraine refuses to restore preferential regime of the taxation for the farming. And resignation of the Cabinet of the Ministers of Ukraine, led by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, denial from the idea to enhance farmland payment and fixed agricultural tax, necessity to accept laws about unique land tax and about family farms are another requirements of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises.

Ukrainian agrarians are justly indignant, because state recompense of tax on the additional value always gave them the possibility to buy beforehand seeds and fertilizers for the next harvest and a fuel for their agricultural machinery, and liquidation of this state subsidy plus new high taxes may strongly harm or even destroy farms in Ukraine. At least farmers will be obliged to increase prices for own agricultural production and to decrease a quantity of working places on their farms, so unemployment will enlarge among rural population, some farming enterprises may become bankrupt. If changes in the Tax Code of Ukraine from the 24^th December come into force, farmers will slaughter cattle, so all Ukrainians will fell the deficiency of milk and meat in the country.

From the other side Ukrainian peasants are angry that agrarian exporters which are mainly agricultural holdings, registered abroad or been in the part of bigger, often foreign holding, will continue to get 100% state recompense of tax on the additional value from Ukrainian state treasury. Though Ukrainian agricultural holdings buy farming production in the primary manufactures at much lower prices than they sell abroad! So where is conscientiously in Ukrainian state power? I completely support the claims of Ukrainian farmers in their fighting for the fairness!

Miners' strikes in Ukraine

Miners’ strikes often happened in 2015 as in Kyiv as in Ukrainian regions. In the last year the largest meetings of the miners were held on 2^nd March, 22^nd April and 23^rd December in Ukrainian capital, when the miners the most frequently demanded in Ukrainian government to cease the destruction of Ukrainian coal industry and to pay their wages’ debts. In the spring of 2015 the workers of different Ukrainian coal mines claimed the resignation of Minister of Energetics and Coal Industry of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn, the growth of the financing of state coal mines, stopping of coal purchases abroad too. Though in December of 2015 Ukrainian miners from various cities also demanded the dismissal of all Cabinet of the Ministers of Ukraine, headed by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who had abolished state subsidies to coal branch of Ukrainian economics in 2015. Besides Kyiv miners’ protests, the workers of coal mines of Volyn region blocked Lviv-Kovel road to get their wages in October of 2015 and struck in Novovolynsk to stop the destroying of Volyn coal industry in December of 2015. In the last month of 2015 the miners of Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region, organized meeting in the city for the retirement of the minister Demchyshyn, the liquidation of pension tax and the decreasing of public utilities’ tariffs for all Ukrainian citizens.

The miners of Lviv region had active public position too and struck actively in November and December, 2015. Thus, in the end of 2015 year the workers of “Lviv Coal Company” received only 42% payment for June, 2015 and 19% for July, 2015, so their biggest claim is a payment of their salary. And the new 2016 year was begun with miners’ strikes on “Stepova” state mine in the town of Hlukhiv (Sokal district of Lviv region) on 2^nd and 3^rd January 2016. On 4^th January miners from “Velykomostivska” and “Lisova” mines supported “Stepova” strike and all together demanded 78% debt salary for November and 100% salary for December, 2015. On the next day state enterprise “LvivCoal”, the proprietor of these three and another four state mines in Lviv region, paid its workers 24% of November’s debt, though, maybe, the real reason of such step was the-day-before criminal deal, opened by Chervonohrad Public Prosecutor’s Office for groundless non-payment of the wages at “LvivCoal”. Requesting  the rest of their wages for 2015 year, miners of “LvivCoal” diverse mines held meetings on the main Chervonohrad square on 5^th and 9^th January 2016. Not achieving desirable goal, miners blocked Lviv-Kovel route, one Chervonohrad significant street and the entry to the city of Chervonohrad on 11^th January. Then, on 12^th January, workers of “LvivCoal” and “Lviv Coal Company” stopped traffic on Lviv–Rava-Ruska highway of international importance, walking the pedestrian crossing the whole day in the town of Kulykiv and in the villages of Smerekiv and Volya-Vysotska to attract foreigners’ attention to the problems of Lviv region’s miners. And in the evening on the same day miners blocked Zhovkva circular road towards Lviv. But not being heard by their employees, Ukrainian state and local power,  Stepova” miners incessantly went on the crosswalk in the village of Soposhyn nearby Zhovkva, continuing to block Lviv–Rava-Ruska highway on 13^th, 14^th and 15^th January. And struck miners of Lviv region announced own future strike on 21^st January near the office of “LvivCoal” in Sokal, Lviv Regional State Administration and Chervonohrad City Administration in the case non-payment of their wages for the last two months till tomorrow. But it’s not only the problem of the delay of miners’ salary, there is also the question about tons of Ukrainian coal on the stores of closed Chervonohrad Central Concentric Factory of “Lviv Coal Company”. Ukrainian miners protested in 2015 and protest nowadays against Ukrainian government’s coal purchase in Russia! (in 2014-2015 years), the United States of America, the Republic of South Africa and Australia, while Ukraine’s extracted coal lies on Ukrainian state mines’ stores. So can such state power as present Ukraine’s government be named careful for Ukrainian nation? Exactly it cannot.