Black clouds over Silesia. The largest coal company is facing the wall

Trade unions operating in the Polish Mining Group announced a strike alert on Wednesday, according to information from the Silesian-Dąbrowa Solidarity movement. The reason cited by the unions is the lack of government information on financing the company's activities within the dates declared so far.

Bogusław Hutek, the chairman of Solidarity at PGG and the head of its national hard coal mining section, quoted in the information, recalled that the government set the date of the meeting on the further operation of PGG for March 26, and then postponed the talks to April 8.

“Today (the government – PAP) canceled the meeting and did not set any new date. We cannot wait any longer, because PGG's situation is very difficult. If the government does not present solutions quickly, the company may face bankruptcy within a few months,” Hutek pointed out. According to the unions, PGG's money will be enough until June.

After the announcement of the strike alert, protest and strike headquarters are to be established in PGG mines and plants. The unions intend to wait for the government's response until the end of the week, and if there is no response, they will decide among their organizations on further actions next week.

The unions remind that funds from the state budget for reducing the production capacity of coal companies are provided for in the social agreement on hard coal mining of May 2021. These funds are intended to enable the gradual transformation of the mining sector scheduled for 2049.

According to Hutek, the situation in the Middle East and the related fuel crisis have once again shown how valuable it is to have our own energy raw material.

“If the government, in violation of the social contract, does not provide financing for PGG, instead of a peaceful transformation and energy security, we will have a rapid liquidation of mines and thousands of jobs,” warned the head of Solidarity at PGG.

On Wednesday, PAP sent questions on this matter to the ministries of state assets and energy, but by the time the cable was published, it had not received an answer.

Two months ago, at the beginning of February this year, the leaders of trade union headquarters operating in PGG received an assurance from representatives of ME and MAP that there would be money to finance the company's activities. The deputy heads of ministries were then to declare work on comprehensive solutions for mining and energy, announcing their arrival in Silesia on March 26 with a package of solutions.

Pursuant to the Act on the Operation of Hard Coal Mining, companies covered by the so-called Under the New Support System, they receive state subsidies to reduce mining capacity. In accordance with statutory provisions, these companies are: PGG, PKW and Węglokoks Kraj (the only mine of Węglokoks Kraj ended mining at the end of 2025).

These companies receive subsidies to reduce production capacity, i.e. public aid – partly in cash, and largely in the form of capital increases with treasury securities (which is why, despite the aid, the companies report losses).

According to the PGG authorities, the company opened 2026 with approximately PLN 400 million of cash saved from the aid for 2025. The first funds from the subsidy part of the support for 2026 were also released. The PGG Management Board was waiting for information on whether and what the value of the capital increase would be, which is important for full liquidity this year.

PGG representatives in February this year reported that the company's forecasted net loss for 2025 is PLN 5 billion (less by PLN 1.4 billion yoy) with revenues from coal sales of approx. PLN 7.1 billion (approx. PLN 2.3 billion less yoy). The company used PLN 6 billion from public aid granted last year in the amount of PLN 5.6 billion and PLN 0.8 billion saved from 2024.

Polska Grupa Górnicza is the largest company mining hard coal in Poland and the European Union. It employs a total of approx. 35,000 people in seven mines (including three multi-operation mines), as well as in several plants (e.g. the Renovation and Production Plant). people. PGG would like to reduce employment by approximately 5,000 this year. employees.

Last year, PGG's extraction, with full implementation of the plan, amounted to nearly 16 million tonnes, of which 14.9 million tonnes was steam coal (five years earlier, PGG extracted 20.3 million tonnes). PGG currently has 48 percent. share in domestic production of thermal coal, 37 percent share in supplies to the professional energy sector, 50 percent share in deliveries to heating plants and industry and 35 percent. in the supply of fuel coal. (PAP)

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mtb/mmu/