In 2002, Tele Fonika closed its cable plant in Ożarów, Poland, with the loss of 900 jobs. resulting in high-profile protests from the workforce. In 2004, however, the company is making a new investment in Ożarów, and hiring some of workers dismissed previously.
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In 2002, Tele Fonika closed its cable plant in Ożarów, Poland, with the loss of 900 jobs. resulting in high-profile protests from the workforce. In 2004, however, the company is making a new investment in Ożarów, and hiring some of workers dismissed previously.
In 2002, the Tele Fonika company closed down its cable production plant in Ożarów. The liquidation of the plant was accompanied by protests from the 900 redundant staff, many of whom refused accept to the company’s decision and occupied the factory premises for several months until they were removed by force (PL0212101N). At that time, Tele Fonika’s owner, Bogusław Cupiał, told a newspaper that 'we are certainly not going back to Ożarów'.
However, in 2004 the company changed its mind and decided to open one of the biggest cable warehouses in Europe and a logistics centre in Ożarów, which has been chosen as the location of this investment for economic reasons. The company is still in possession of part of the old cable factory premises. A leader of the ex-employees from the liquidated cable plant, Sławomir Gzik, said that he would not object to Tele Fonika returning, provided that its workforce was recruited through a company called Nowa Fabryka Kabli Ożarów (Ożarów New Cable Factory), which was founded by the former employees. There is a list of more than 200 people who are supposed to be employed in any future reopening that Mr Gzik maintains was attached to the agreement that put an end to the conflict at the Ożarów factory and was accepted by Tele Fonika. The company’s representatives did not confirm this. Instead, they started recruiting only those people who possess the required skills, including some whose names were not on the list.
An attempt to allay the threat of a new conflict was made during a meeting of representatives of the Industrial Development Agency (Agencja Rozwoju Przemysłu, ARP), Tele Fonika, local authorities and former employees of the factory. It seems that the parties have adopted a so-called 'zero option'. In the first phase of recruitment, 41 people were given jobs, 35 of whom were ex-employees of the liquidated plant. This is seen as a good sign for the future of Ożarów, where few new jobs have been created over the past few years. However, there is concern in some circles that it involves the same 'old-new' investor, whose previous decisions have contributed to the present poor situation on the local labour market.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2004), Tele Fonika returns to Ożarów, article.
