No strike action after miners' wage demands are met
Trade unions from the Polish Mining Group (PGG), Europe's biggest hard coal producer, reached agreement in a wage dispute with PGG management on Friday and suspended the announced strike action.
Under the deal, the average remuneration at PGG will be raised to PLN 8,200 (EUR 1,800) gross from the current PLN 7,829 (EUR 1,726), which met the miners' demands. They will also receive a one-off compensation of an average of PLN 1,500 (EUR 330) for working weekends.
The Friday talks at the PGG headquarters were preceded by a meeting of trade unionists with Piotr Pyzik, deputy minister of state assets, during which the terms of the agreement were initially settled. On Friday morning, the document was signed by the parties.
In the course of the dispute, which started in mid-December, the miners twice blocked the rail transports of coal from PGG mines to a power plants, for 24 and then 48 hours respectively, and announced another coal transport blockage to start on January 17, to continue for an indefinite period.
On Thursday, 98.65 percent (over 20,700 employees) of miners voted in favour of strike action in a company-wide referendum which saw a nearly 58 percent turnout.
