Polish miners went on 24-hour strike

The strike started on 6:00 a.m. at Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA (JSW SA). The strike was organized by the local union organization in JSW SA, a member of the Trade Unions Alliance "KADRA", affiliated to the IndustriALL Global Union.

The strike is the result of a disagreement with the management board of JSW SA regarding the introduction of new labour contracts for newly hired employees and wages. The management intends to impose contracts violating the national labour law as well as the previous agreement with the trade unions, particularly the agreement of May 2012 concerning the privatization of JSW SA.

The union demands withdrawal of unfavourable contracts for new employees and an increase of salaries by 3.8 per cent. The company declared 50 per cent of workers participated in the strike and announced Z17million (4.1 million euros) losses in revenues as the direct result of the strike. The union dismisses the data as unreliable. During the press-conference about the results of the strike on 25 October the union declared its readiness to continue the struggle.

The JSW SA mines are located in the Upper-Silesian Coal Basin. The JSW Group is the largest producer of high quality coking coal and an important coke producer in the European Union. JSW is composed of five hard coal mines including Borynia-Zofiowka, Budryk, Jas-Mos, Krupinski, and Pniowek, where coking coal and steam coal is excavated, as well as the Material Logistics Centre. By the end of 2011 the group employed almost 30,000 workers of whom 22,900 were employed by JSW mines and 1,700 by Koksownia Przyjazn (coking operations of the Group).