Dec 7, 2014
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Two hundred miners have occupied the offices of the EU’s largest thermal coal producer, Kompania Weglowa S.A. (KW), in Katowice. The occupation followed news that KW will liquidate the firm, threatening the jobs of 46,000 workers. KW has been facing financial problems for years and is already subject to a social plan in which its workforce reduces by 26,000.
Two hundred miners have occupied the offices of the EU’s largest thermal coal producer, Kompania Weglowa S.A. (KW), in Katowice. The occupation followed news that KW will liquidate the firm, threatening the jobs of 46,000 workers. KW has been facing financial problems for years and is already subject to a social plan in which its workforce reduces by 26,000. However, even with the reorganisation the company has been unable to gather the funds needed to keep it in business. The miners demand to speak to representatives from the labour ministry, which has refused to bailout the company, as well as payment of owed wages. The occupation ended after six days, when the ministry agreed to talks and subsequently gave union representatives guarantees in respect of the company and other mining companies in difficulties.
English: http://www.industriall-europe.eu/news ...
http://www.industriall-union.org/200-polish-miners-occupy-company-headquarters
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.