Płażyński stressed that the inspection was the result of a meeting with a member of the National Railway Workers’ Section of NSZZ “Solidarność” from a few days ago and information provided by the company in July about the intention to carry out group layoffs, which are to cover up to 30 percent of the staff. Kowalski added that 360 people are to lose their jobs in the Gdynia branch of PKP Cargo, and about 4 thousand people in the entire company.
“PKP Cargo has been going through difficult times recently, but we have doubts whether this is not the result of a certain campaign against this company and the desire to take over the market by foreign capital, by companies that are only just starting to operate on the Polish market,” Płażyński said at a conference organized after the inspection.
As he said, the president of PKP Cargo (Marcin Wojewódka – PAP) began his term of office by giving interviews in which he claimed that the company was in trouble and was close to liquidation. “Find me a manager who, when he takes over the reins of a company, starts to scare potential customers of this company that it is better not to do business with us, because we could cease to exist in a moment,” said the PiS MP. He added that PKP Cargo is the second largest transport company in Europe. “Every year, PLN 5 billion is the company’s revenue. Last year, its profit was over PLN 80 million,” he added.
The MPs reminded that the current management board of PKP Cargo has filed a motion for restructuring with the National Register of Debtors. “A company that has great profits, a stable situation, assets worth PLN 8 billion is suddenly to be repaired by the court, by a temporary administrator who will decide which assets of this company to sell and which not?” – asked Płażyński and noted that in his opinion “the sale of assets always pales in comparison to the value of these assets”. “That’s how it is on the bailiff market, that these prices are simply dumping” – he assessed.
According to Kowalski, the Sanation motion carries a huge danger. “Sanation, in other words restructuring of the plant, will allow for the dismissal of employees from trade unions, pregnant women or even people who are of pre-retirement age, currently protected by law,” he explained.
Płażyński added that during the parliamentary inspection he asked whether the company’s supervisory board had received this application. According to Płażyński, Janusz Janiszewski, advisor to the PKP Cargo board, was to answer “that the board had not received any document in this matter”.
“The transport market will shrink for PKP Cargo”
The MPs reported that Ukrainian Railways Cargo Poland began operating in Poland in June this year. It is – as the MPs reported – a subsidiary of the state-owned Ukrainian Railways. “It is a bare company that has basically no assets, its value is 5 thousand zlotys” – said Płażyński. MP Kowalski stated that it is a company that “does not have such bureaucracy and its operation is much cheaper than the operation of Polish transport companies”. “We are afraid that the transport market will decrease for PKP Cargo” – he assessed.
According to MP Płażyński, the Ukrainian company and PKP Cargo “have names in common”. “Today, Mr Jakub Karnowski, who was the president of PKP SA in the previous government of Donald Tusk and prepared the privatization of PKP Cargo, is on the supervisory board of Ukrainian Railways Cargo Poland,” he stated. He added that the current president of PKP Cargo, “during privatization under the previous government of Tusk”, was the owner of the law firm “Wojewódka i Wspólnicy”, which was an advisory firm in the privatization process of PKP Cargo.
“A shocking coincidence that the gentleman who privatized it is in the Ukrainian state railways, and the gentleman who advised on this privatization is today the president of PKP Cargo. In the background, there is a Ukrainian daughter company, whose president is a gentleman who previously worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and who was a high-ranking officer of the Ukrainian police,” continued Płażyński.
The case will be referred to the Minister of Infrastructure
The MPs announced that after the parliamentary inspection they would direct questions to the Minister of Infrastructure, Dariusz Klimczak (PSL).
By the time this dispatch was sent, PAP had not received PKP Cargo’s position on the PiS MPs’ conference. Once we receive its position, we will publish the company’s response.
At the beginning of July, the PKP Cargo management board announced its intention to conduct group layoffs, which were to cover up to 30% of the staff. Earlier, at the end of May this year, the company’s management board decided to launch a program to send up to 30% of employees to so-called non-performance of work. It also proposed to dissolve the company’s collective labor agreement and an agreement on the mutual obligations of the parties to this agreement. In June, it passed a resolution to unilaterally terminate, upon expiry of the 24-month notice period, the Company’s Collective Labor Agreement.
Another round of talks between the PKP Cargo management and trade union representatives was announced for Tuesday.
PKP Cargo is the largest rail freight carrier in Poland. As a Group, it offers logistics services, combining rail, road and sea transport. It provides independent freight transport in Poland and: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia. The largest single shareholder of PKP Cargo is PKP SA, which has 33.01 percent of shares. (PAP)
Author: Piotr Mirowicz
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