Industry associations propose to adjust the criteria for booking employees

Industry associations have appealed to the Ministry of Economy with a proposal to adjust the criteria for reserving employees, as this makes it difficult for the Pokrovsk and Marganetsk mining and processing plants, located in the frontline zone, to reserve personnel to support the production infrastructure.

This is stated in a report by the Ukrainian Association of Ferrosilicon and Other Electrometallurgical Products Manufacturers (UkrFA).

UkrFA, together with the National Association of Mining Industry of Ukraine, appealed to the Minister of Economy, Environmental Protection, and Agriculture of Ukraine with a proposal to amend Cabinet Resolution No. 76, which establishes mandatory requirements for the average salary level (minimum × 2.5) when determining enterprises as critically important.

This is because the Marganetsky and Pokrovsky Mining and Processing Plants do not meet the criterion of paying UAH 20,000 in taxes per employee, which is a mandatory condition for reserving employees from mobilization. Without meeting this criterion, enterprises do not have the right to reserve their specialists.

«Currently, alternative mechanisms and options for solving this problem are being sought. However, the main difficulty lies in the fact that the requirement for a coefficient of 2.5 (corresponding to UAH 20,000) is set at the national level. This means that even the support of the regional state administration will not be able to help enterprises circumvent this requirement,» Sergiy Kudryavtsev, executive director of UkrFA, told GMK Center in a comment.

In his opinion, a change in the reservation criterion at the national level is unlikely, although the situation may be reviewed depending on the state of the industry by the end of the year.

The appeal notes that adjusting the criteria will make it possible to retain human resources, avoid the shutdown of city-forming enterprises, and ensure stable revenues to local budgets.

At the same time, a possible shortage of personnel poses an additional serious threat.

“If the Marganets Mining and Processing Plant is unable to ensure the operation of the necessary equipment, in particular mines and related infrastructure, this will lead to an environmental disaster,” Sergiy Kudryavtsev emphasizes.

Earlier, we reported that on August 13, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers allowed critically important enterprises that actually operate in areas of possible or active hostilities to reserve 100% of their employees.

We remind you that in the first half of this year, Ukraine’s ferroalloy enterprises increased their output to 68.4 thousand tons. In particular, silicomanganese production increased to 60.9 thousand tons, and ferromanganese production increased to 7.5 thousand tons. In January-June, Pokrovsk Mining produced 22.9 thousand tons of manganese concentrate.