The so-called project The suspension agreement, presented by the management board of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa in recent days, means three years of reducing employees' income, weakening their protection and limiting benefits – argues the company's social website.
On Wednesday afternoon, scans of the draft agreement with comments appeared on the Facebook profile of JSW Zwiedź, as well as an announcement that the company's Solidarity movement would respond to it soon.
On January 2, the JSW management board appealed in an open letter to trade unionists to be open to reaching a compromise and accepting the solutions included in the company's restructuring plan. Earlier talks on the temporary reduction of labor costs at JSW on December 30 last year ended without an agreement.
The draft suspension agreement, which is to be signed by the company, representative trade unions and the Deputy Minister of State Assets, includes, among others: preamble. It briefly presents the situation of JSW and indicates the need to reduce employment costs.
The preamble to the project also specifies that the agreement will temporarily suspend the application of the provisions of some previously applicable collective agreements with trade unions. It will also suspend the guarantees from the agreement of March 31, 2021 regarding working conditions.
Necessary financing
The points of the agreement include the employer's declaration that it will make every effort to obtain the financing necessary for the company's continued operation by the end of February 2026, provided that its granting depends on the implementation of the restructuring plan, including the reduction of labor costs.
It is stated below that the activities and discussions undertaken by JSW with financial institutions indicate that in the absence of optimization activities in terms of reducing labor costs, it is impossible for the employer to obtain external financing.
Granting JSW a loan from the Reprivatization Fund in the amount of PLN 2.9 billion (which is the responsibility of the Ministry of Assets) also depends on the unions accepting and accepting the reduction in labor costs.
At the same time, the project assumes that the unions agree to suspend the application of previous provisions provided that JSW receives a loan from the Reprivatization Fund.
The project provides for a complete suspension of the 14th salary in the years 2025-27, and the payment of the St. Barbara's Day award for 2026 limited to a maximum of 30%. and its absence in 2027-28, as well as the entire suspension in 2026-28 of: coal allowance, health and safety bonuses and allowances, tickets from the Miner's Card and more favorable rules for sickness and leave benefits.
Moreover, in the years 2026-28, work on Sundays, holidays and days off would take place without additional compensation, at a rate of x 1.5, and preventive meals would be worth 1%. minimum wage, and the guarantees of unchanged working conditions under the agreement of March 31, 2021 would be suspended.
The project allows for the possibility of shortening the validity period of the agreement in the event of a significant improvement in the company's financial situation: in such a situation, the employer would also pay the suspended benefits, without the right to interest.
In a comment on the project on the JSW Unions profile, it was written that it would mean a total of three years of “lowering income, limiting benefits and weakening employee protection.” “And all this: without a return guarantee, without interest, without hard provisions protecting the crew, under the slogan: temporarily” – it was added.
On the trade union profile, sharing photos of the draft agreement was justified so that every employee could see “exactly what is to be taken away from the staff and for how long.”
An open letter to unions
Last Friday, the company's management board wrote in an open letter to the unions that the scale of the challenges JSW is currently facing is unprecedented, and the margin for action is shrinking every day. “Only reaching a compromise immediately can protect JSW from a scenario whose consequences would be irreversible both for employees and the entire region,” warned the management board.
Open letter from January 2 this year. was a consequence of the lack of agreement in the talks on Tuesday, December 30 last year. The position of the unions was presented even before those talks by the chairman of Solidarity at JSW, Sławomir Kozłowski.
“The agreement assumes that the burden of the financial and economic costs of saving the company will fall on the shoulders of the employees: 80 percent of these costs will fall on the shoulders of the employees, JSW miners. This is a project that is, in short, intended to rob JSW employees,” said the trade unionist.
On December 30, the trade union also stated that “there is and will not be consent to reaching into miners' pockets under the pretext of saving the company.”
November 25 last year JSW announced that its net loss after three quarters of 2025 reached PLN 2.9 billion cumulatively. Sales revenues amounted to PLN 7 billion, and the EBITDA result was minus PLN 1.4 billion. In the third quarter alone, JSW generated PLN 2.3 billion in sales revenues, with a gross loss on sales of PLN 524 million. EBITDA excluding one-off events amounted to minus PLN 485 million and the net loss was PLN 794 million.
Assumptions for the business restructuring of the JSW group include: developing a support plan by the State Treasury, reaching an agreement with the social side regarding cost reduction and work organization, developing a group restructuring plan and developing financing conditions with financial institutions.
December 15 last year Minister of State Assets Wojciech Balczun said that JSW needs approximately PLN 3 billion of financing to ensure liquidity in 2026. As he said then, the company is very intensively negotiating obtaining commercial financing from the international market, and at the same time a loan from the Restructuring Fund is being negotiated.
“We assume that part of the funds will come from the Reprivatization Fund and the rest from the market. At the same time, JSW must restructure,” said the head of MAP in mid-December. (PAP)
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