The most important company engaged in underground coal mining in the Czech Republic is a joint-stock company Ostravaska-karvinské doly (OKD). OKD saw significant restructuring and reduction after 1989. The process was quite unique due to the fact that from the end of World War II up to the 1990s mining companies were owned by the state and the industry played a significant role in the country's economy, which determined the social status of coal miners. Between 1990 and 2006 employment in OKD dropped by more than 80 per cent. The paper deals with the reasons for the considerable employment decline and discusses the issues of financial security for dismissed employees and other measures the result of which was social peace even at the time of significant employment changes.
Dvořáček, J. (2007). Social issues related to the closure of underground coal mines in the Czech Republic. In A. B. Fourie, M. Tibbett, & J. Wiertz (Eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Mine Closure. Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Santiago (pp. 123-127).