Polish union rejects Kompania Weglowa restructuring plan

The Warsaw Business Journal has reported that Poland’s largest coal mining company, Kompania Weglowa (KW) has not reached an agreement with unions as it looks to implement a restructuring plan.

Talks with unions over a restructuring agreement collapsed because a single labour union, Kadra, rejected the proposed plan. The other 12 unions agreed to the consensus reached with KW management.

KW CEO, Marek Uszok, told the Polish Press Agency: “On Wednesday, we reached an agreement that was written down. On Thursday, it was supposed to be still discussed and signed. But that required consent of all the unions.”

With negotiations at a stand-still, KW will now look to implement its repair programme, which may lay off some of its administrative staff and sell one of its mines. Management will now present the initial version of the repair programme to the supervisory board, most likely by the end of January.

In a statement, KW said “It was with huge surprise that KW management accepted the position put forward by the Kadra labour union that entirely negates the essential elements of the agreement worked out the day before. A lack of unanimity from the unions prevented the [proposed restructuring plan] from being adopted.”

Plans for the restructuring of KW have been the focus of discussions between unions and KW management for the past six weeks.

The first ever comprehensive audit of Poland’s state owned mines carried out by an independent consultancy concluded that KW could become profitable if it closed five or six of its loss-making mines, concentrating production n more cost efficient coal mines and reducing its bureaucracy. 

Edited from various sources by Sam Dodson

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/20012014/labour_negotiations_collapse_in_poland_421/