The Polish government has signed a deal with trade unionists from the Polish Mining Group (PGG), pledging to increase pay and limit foreign coal imports, in exchange for the miners suspending a planned protest, reported RMF24.
Workers will receive a 6% pay rise (averaging around 400 zloty, €93, more per month for each employee) backdated from January this year. The miners have called the raise a compromise, since they originally requested 12%, and say they will return to further talks in September.
In exchange, the miners have suspended their protests, including one that had been planned for February 28 in Warsaw. In past weeks Polish miners have protested against coal imports, which they believe are replacing local production and thus putting their jobs at risk.
The miners have been blocking trains carrying imported coal and last week spilled coal in the offices of MPs, including that of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
