Warning strike held on Polish National Railways

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A warning strike was organised by trade unions at Polish National Railways (PKP) on 21 December 2004 in protest against reorganisation and privatisation plans. Tripartite talks have so far failed to resolve the dispute.

Employees of Polish National Railways (Polskie Koleje Państwowe, PKP) held a warning strike on 21 December 2004. The action was organised by the national railway workers’ protest and strike committee, which takes issue with the proposed privatisation of PKP Cargo SA and PKP Telekomunikacja Sp zoo, two entities within the PKP organisational structure. The trade union activists also oppose plans to reorganise PKP Regional Transport (PKP Przewozy Regionalne, PKP PR) into 16 new units; in their view, such a move would transfer responsibility for regional railway connections to local government bodies without even minimum guarantees for their finances. The warning strike involved a stoppage of all railway traffic in certain parts of the country. The more significant stoppages, almost two hours in duration, were in Białograd, Białystok, Cracow, Lublin, and Poznań.

This most recent protest constitutes a continuation of the disputes surrounding the protracted restructuring of PKP (PL0308105F). The strike committee has explained its latest initiative in terms of desire to ensure due implementation of an agreement reached with the government in July 2003 (PL0311102N and PL0405103N), which was coupled with the implementation of a programme for continued restructuring and privatisation of the PKP group’s constituent companies up until 2006. In addition to the six trade unions which signed this document when it was first drawn up, the programme has received the endorsement of seven more union organisations; the remaining 11 unions operating in the Polish railways sector, however, have withheld their support for the plan.

The programme provides that regionalisation of local passenger traffic is to proceed with the involvement of the relevant regional government with regard to financing and planning the regional timetables. The protest committee alleges that the government and the management of PKP SA have not been honouring the agreements reached in 2003 and that they have left regional rail connections without the requisite funding. Given this state of affairs, the protesters claim, local governments have no choice but to shut down some local rail connections altogether and to scale back traffic on others. Such circumstances increase the likelihood of mergers between regional units of PKP Przewozy Regionalne as well as of mass redundancies (PL0407102N), they state.

The unions are also worried by the premises of a revised programme for the restructuring of PKP up until 2007, as circulated by the Ministry of Infrastructure (Ministerstwo Infrastruktury, MI) for comments by other government agencies in December 2004. This document’s provisions include changes in the structure of PKP PR whereby new units - larger than the current 16 - would be organised and charged with connections in geographic areas coinciding with Poland's 16 regions (voivodships). The unions, it appears, object to the prospect of regional government bodies establishing rail companies, believing that this would amount to unfair competition with PKP PR. The protest committee members are also disquieted at the provisions of the new programme with regard to the privatisation of PKP Cargo SA, of eight infrastructure companies, and of four limited-liability companies included in the present PKP group structure - PKP Intercity, PKP Energetyka, PKP Telekomunikacja, and PKP Informatyka.

Representatives of the protest committee have expressed the fear that the proposals fielded by the Ministry of Infrastructure, if implemented, will lead to redundancies on a large scale. Accordingly, they are calling for: suspension of the passenger transport regionalisation process; measures aimed at securing funding guarantees from the regional governments; and renewed discussion of plans for PKP’s restructuring within the dedicated 'tripartite sector team' ((PL0308101F) which, on the basis of the agreements signed in July 2003, operates in close coordination with the Ministry of Infrastructure.

The tripartite team duly convened for a session on 22 December, the day following the warning strike. The meeting soon came to an abrupt end when the union representatives called - among other demands - for additional clarifications concerning the Koleje Mazowieckie unit, for details as to when PKP will receive EUR 50 million promised from the EU Cohesion Fund, and for definite decisions concerning refund of excise taxes paid by the PKP companies on fuel purchases. A 'last chance' meeting of the tripartite team was held on 29 December, but to little avail; another round of talks was scheduled for 11 January 2005.

Following the conclusion of the final round of tripartite team talks for 2004, the unions publicly announced that, on 5 January 2005, the protest committee would decide on the timing and form of the next strike. According to Stanisław Kogut, chair of the railway workers’ section of the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy Solidarność, NSZZ Solidarność), there are some members of the committee who would favour a general strike of indefinite duration and others who advocate more moderate forms of protest. Mr Kogut has also made it known that the PKP unions will notify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as well as all members of the European Parliament deputies that the Polish government is allegedly in breach of its undertakings concerning regional rail transport.