JSW Miners Face Deep Pay Cuts as Polish Coal Giant Seeks Rescue Funds
Unions slam a three-year plan to suspend bonuses and benefits, calling it an attempt to 'rob' workers.
Management at Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa (JSW) has proposed a sweeping three-year plan to cut employee pay and benefits, a move unions have blasted as an attempt to make workers bear the cost of saving the struggling Polish coal producer.
A draft of the so-called suspension agreement, leaked by union representatives, outlines the suspension of key benefits from 2025 to 2028. The cuts include the traditional 14th-month salary, the “Barbórka” miners’ bonus, coal allowances, and various health and safety premiums. The plan would also eliminate extra pay for work on Sundays and holidays.
In a comment posted alongside scans of the proposal, the JSW Związki union profile on Facebook said the plan means three years of “lowering incomes, limiting benefits, and weakening employee protections.” It added: “And all this: without a guarantee of return, without interest, without firm provisions securing the crew, under the slogan: temporarily.”
Talks between management and unions broke down on December 30. Sławomir Kozłowski, the head of the Solidarność union at JSW, sharply criticized the proposal before that meeting. “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% of these costs on the shoulders of JSW miners. This is a project that, to put it briefly, is meant to rob JSW employees,” he said.
The union side declared on December 30 that “there is not and will not be consent to reach into the miners’ pockets under the pretext of saving the company.”
JSW’s management argues the measures are critical to securing the company’s future. In an open letter to unions on January 2, the board warned that the scale of challenges facing JSW is “unprecedented” and that the “time for action is shrinking every day.”
“Only an immediate compromise can protect JSW from a scenario whose consequences would be irreversible for both employees and the entire region,” the board wrote.
The company’s financial position is precarious. JSW reported a cumulative net loss of PLN 2.9 billion after the first three quarters of 2025 on revenues of PLN 7 billion. Its third-quarter net loss alone was PLN 794 million.
The cost-cutting plan is a prerequisite for obtaining external financing. The draft agreement states that JSW must secure funding by the end of February 2026, but notes that financial institutions have made it clear that new capital is impossible without a reduction in labor costs.
Crucially, the measures are also tied to a proposed PLN 2.9 billion loan from the state’s Reprivatization Fund. The draft stipulates that unions would only agree to the suspensions on the condition that JSW receives this state-backed loan.
On December 15, Minister of State Assets Wojciech Balczun confirmed that JSW needs approximately PLN 3 billion to ensure liquidity in 2026. “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 carry out restructuring,” he said.
The proposal does include a clause allowing for the suspension period to be shortened and suspended benefits to be paid out, without interest, if the company’s financial situation improves significantly.
