PKP Cargo. The Minister of Infrastructure assures that the repair actions will save the railway company

– I would like to reassure all those who are worried about the PKP Cargo company. (…) This company has no right to go bankrupt and will not go bankrupt, it is too important and legal conditions do not allow for such a situation to occur. Quite the opposite – this company is on the right track – said the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure at a meeting with journalists.

At the same time, he admitted that he understood “the trade unions, the social side, which is worried”. – I assure everyone that there is no possibility of this company going bankrupt. This company can only and exclusively get on the right track and every step that is taken is in that direction – he added.

At the beginning of July, the PKP Cargo management board announced its intention to carry out group layoffs, which were to cover up to 30% of the staff. Earlier, at the end of May this year, the company's management board decided to launch a program to send up to 30% of employees to so-called non-work. It also proposed to dissolve the company's collective labor agreement and an agreement on the mutual obligations of the parties to this agreement. In June, it passed a resolution to unilaterally terminate, upon expiry of the 24-month notice period, the Company's Collective Labor Agreement.

He pointed out that four agreements were signed, including with PKP Intercity, PKP Intercity Remtrak, PKP PLK and Polregio, which allowed securing employment for 1,250 employees from PKP Cargo.

– We know perfectly well that these are professionals, and this type of person, with the right qualifications, is lacking in other companies. The current management of PKP Cargo does not leave anyone out in the cold, they are concerned and are trying to ensure that more and more employees change their jobs in other companies – he said. He admitted that in the railway sector everyone knows each other and “we know perfectly well where we can provide this type of job”.

Read also: Mass layoffs in a railway company. 30 percent of the staff is to lose their jobs >>>

The Minister recalled on Wednesday that a week ago, PKP Cargo's offers for the transport of thermal coal from the Bogdanka mine for Enea Wytwarzanie turned out to be the best in the electronic auction. The total value of the offers is PLN 138.4 million gross and concerns three tasks with a total volume of 9 million tons.

– I am convinced that if the company's management approaches subsequent tenders with such diligence, subsequent orders will prove that this company really has a very good future ahead of it. I am thinking only about such a future and the representatives of PKP SA, who have 33% of shares in PKP Cargo, are striving to ensure that PKP Cargo follows only this direction – added Klimczak.

The Minister informed that PKP Cargo is carrying out activities to rationalize expenses and rationalize activities in terms of real estate. – In one of the provinces, PKP Cargo has its own real estate, where it can have its headquarters, but it rents a modern, elegant building nearby, for a quarter of a million zlotys. There are really many, many such examples – Klimczak stated.

He recalled that PKP Cargo had already undergone a restructuring process once, during the PO-PSL coalition government. – Then, during a very serious restructuring, the company was brought to such a good operational and financial condition that the company decided to enter the stock exchange. I would like to remind you that when PKP Cargo entered the stock exchange, the value of shares was PLN 80, we reached PLN 100, and now, when after the government PiS we took over this company, the shares cost about PLN 12 – he said. He added: – Since the board started taking decisive action, the value of this company has been increasing.

PKP Cargo is the largest rail freight carrier in Poland. As a Group, it offers logistics services, combining rail, road and sea transport. It provides independent freight transport in Poland and: Czech, Slovakia, German, Austria, Netherlands, Hungarian, Lithuania and SloveniaThe largest single shareholder of PKP Cargo is PKP SA, which holds 33.01 percent of shares.