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6 April, 2009
Some 65,000 miners at Europe’s largest coal company, Poland’s Kompania Weglowa, will not take a 24-hour strike action tomorrow, 7 April, following an agreement on wages last week, 2 April. State-owned Kompania Weglowa and most of the 12 unions representing miners, led by ICEM affiliates NSZZ Solidarność and Kadra, as well as the Polish Miners’ Trade Union, reached accord for significant 2009 wage increases.
The settlement came just before Poland’s Minister of Economy froze the salaries of board members of all state-owned and operated coal concerns, as well as cutting the salaries of top executives at Kompania Weglowa. Reportedly, the decision freed up money to increase miners’ salaries.
Miners at Kompania Weglowa voted by a 92% margin to launch a day-long strike during the week of 23 March, after government ministry mediators failed to bring the two sides together. On 12 March, workers at Kompania Weglowa’s 16 mines staged a two-hour protest strike over their wage demands.
But last week, just prior to the Economy Ministry’s 3 April decision, the company’s supervisory board agreed to increase salaries by PLN 900 per month (€200), or about 5%. Kompania Weglowa mining unions had been seeking an 8% increase, but had lowered demands to 6% in mid-March mediation efforts.
Meanwhile, a total of 40,000 other coal miners at two other state-operated coal production and servicing concerns, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), are still seeking fair wage settlements. Both companies say they will stick to a wage freeze for 2009, while Polish miners at JSW and KHW seek parity with Kompania Weglowa miners. Both JSW and KHW have planned extraction investments in coal mining that will come on line in the next several months.
At the country’s multinational copper company, KGHM, a breakthrough appears imminent following management’s initial proposal for a 2009 wage freeze. Trade unions Solidarność and the Association of Copper Industry Employees (ZZPPM) expect 2009 wage increases to be on the bargaining table later in April. Publicly-listed KGHM is 41.8% held by the Polish state.