What goes on in Poland on the 27th of January.
Talks about the social agreement will be continued. Trade unions want to return to coal in Ostrołęka
The recent round of talks on the social agreement on the future of hard coal mining in Poland has ended. The next one will take place in working groups. There are still many differences between the government and trade unions.
Dominik Kolorz, the head of the Silesian-Dąbrowa Solidarity trade union, said that “there is hope for better talks.” – It was important for us that our draft social agreement sent to the ministry was the basis for negotiations. We presented our arguments to the government to clarify doubts about our proposal, but they have not been dispelled yet. We will develop details within the working groups, that will allow the transition of the sector and Silesia. For us, the points regarding investments that are to create new jobs are important – he pointed out. – We will develop such details that will allow us to finish the entire process of the liquidation of the Polish mining sector and save face, and I think that we will go out to the residents of Silesia with our heads held high, ensuring that the region will not be a land of old people where lights go off at 8 pm –Kolorz said.
The trade unions also submitted a postulate that the new Ostrołęka C Power Plant should run on coal instead of gas. – As a state, we have already incurred too high costs there to waste a few billion zlotys at the moment. Today we asked the government to reverse its decision and build the Ostrołęka C power plant as originally planned, so that it runs on coal, and so that we do not waste billions of zlotys. I hope that the government will at least reconsider whether it is to be a power plant fuelled by, unfortunately not Polish, gas, or a coal-fired unit – Kolorz explained. The deputy minister of state assets and the plenipotentiary for the transformation of the energy and mining sectors, Artur Soboń, admitted that this was one of the disagreements with trade unions.