Cargo transport workers at Polish State Railways (PKP) voted to take industrial action over the company’s privatisation, unless their demands were met. The PKP Group wants to sell a 50% stake in its freight company, which is the second largest cargo carrier in Europe. The workers asked for an average wage increase of 450 Zloty per person (€106), the payment of pending bonuses and a six year job guarantee. PKP management first reacted that the demands were unrealistic given the company’s turnover. But, according to the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily, the board of PKP Cargo is due to sign an agreement with the workers.
English: http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/145451,Polish-railways-privatisation-in-October
http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/141691,Polish-railway-workers-threaten-strike-action
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.