Friday 16 January 2015
Kompania Weglowa to go under restructuring plan
Beginning of 2015 was not very good for the coal mining industry. After difficult discussions between representatives of the mining industry and the government at the end of 2014, it seemed that the situation is under control. Amendments to the coal trading regulation were supposed to be a sufficient measure to create more market opportunities for coal resellers and boost coal mining. Unfortunately, one of the biggest coal mining companies is facing serious financial problems, which, if not solved, will lead to company’s bankruptcy as a result of which the work will be lost by nearly 50 thousand people.
Current situation came to light as an effect of steps
taken at the beginning of the new year. On Wednesday January 7th, the
government adopted a recovery program for Kompania Weglowa(KW), aiming at
restructuring business model in order to generate profit. Current situation in
the company does not allow further extraction without loss.
Restructuring program is associated with the creation
of a new company within Kompania Weglowa (KW), which would manage 14 out of 20
KW’s mines. One mine would be bought by company Węglokoks (Piekary) and the
remaining four will be closed down (Bobrek-Centrum, Sośnica-Makoszowy,
Brzeszcze and Peace). The Prime Minister stressed that this plan is linked to
the establishment of the new development plan of Silesia (still at the drafted
stage) which will be presented at the beginning of March.
In the official statement, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz
highlighted that the decision to restructure Kompania Weglowa by replacing it
with a new company will consolidate the power of the mining industry.
“ The
decision to repair Polish mining industry , repair the situation in KW – in
fact translating to abolishing Kompania Weglowa and replacing it with a new
company is a very difficult, but it is a necessary process, that will lead to the
consolidation of the energy industry with the mining industry” – Prime Minister Kopacz said at press conference .
The miners are not sharing positivism of the
representatives of the government. They fear the unemployment and lack of
possibilities for work in any sector. In order to express their concerns, at
the beginning of the week ( January 12) in four mines of Kompania Weglowa, that
are dedicated to closure, had began a protest against the government's mining
restructuring program. Miners do not want
to come up from the extraction area, as they fear that their future is not
stable.
 |
| Female mine workers and miners' wives delegation, received by First Lady |
In comparison to previous strikes that had been
taking place (for example last year), this one is very strong in its approach
as it involves also the families of miners. Female mine workers and wives of
miners dedicated to decommissioning arrived on Monday (January 12) to the
capital to talk about the situation with President Bronislaw Komorowski, who
was not present. Ladies have been received by the First Lady.
The delegation submitted a petition addressed to
President Bronislaw Komorowski.
"Dear
Mr. President, on behalf of the mining families, women working in the mining
industry, residents of Brzeszcz, Bytom, Gliwice, Ruda Slaska and Zabrze, small
businesses and companies cooperating with mines, we are turning to you with a
question of support and bringing to appeal the government's decision on
decommissioning of mines and thousands of jobs" said in the petition.
Unfortunately, Mister President was very clear with
his statement on the issue.
“ My role in
resolving the conflict is limited. The rights and powers of the president do
not include the reform of the mining industry. This is the domain of
government”. He added that, as head
of state, his role can be purely monitoring of the resolving of a conflict. “ This is a role I intend to keep. I do not
want to become part of the dispute “.
The Government ensures that in the event of a
recovery plan of Kompania Weglowa, approx.. 3 000 people will be affected. This
group is planned to be part of the retraining program, allowing the workers to
be employed in different sectors. The government states that without such
measures, the company threatens bankruptcy as a result of which the work will
be lost by nearly 50 thousand people - warns the Ministry of Economy.
According to the adopted government's plan for KW,
without restructuring company will ran out of financial means within one month.
Based
on:
Pictures:
http://i.iplsc.com/zona-prezydenta-rp-anna-komorowska-p-spotkala-sie-z-delegacj/0003SBVUJ3U2O97C-C116-F4.jpg
By Lucyna Nenow:
http://www.dziennikzachodni.pl/artykul/zdjecia/3711598,strajk-na-slasku-premier-kopacz-w-katowicach-mam-duzo-czasu-dla-gornikow-live-zdjecia-wideo,4734526,id,t,zid.html
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