Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
PKP Cargo, the freight rail operator in Poland, will lay off up to 4142 employees, about 30% of its workforce, by September 30, 2024.
PKP Cargo's restructuring aims to improve the company’s financial situation as it has been facing financial challenges; the company is also seeking court-sanctioned restructuring. In late May 2024, PKP Cargo launched a programme to place up to 30% of its workforce on a "non-work" status for 12 months; by June, about 20% of employees were already affected. Laid-off employees will receive severance pay based on their length of service. Negotiations with unions are ongoing, but unions have yet refused to sign the agreement.
PKP Cargo is a logistics operator, Poland's largest and the European Union's second-largest rail freight operator, founded in 2001.
Updated 23/09/2024 PKP Cargo has signed 14 letters of intent regarding the employment of the company's employees thanks to which over 2,000 jobs are now available for employees made redundant in the PKP Cargo restructuring, which is expected to end by the end of October 2024. Some of these positions are in companies part of the PKP group and some are in external companies. Here are some of the companies that signed a letter of agreement with PKP Cargo:
PKP Intercity for up to 400 positions, PKP Intercity Remtrak for up to 300 positions, PKP Polskie Koleje Państwowe, for up to 250 positions, Warsem for up to 100 positions, Pesa Bydgoszcz and Pesa Mińsk Mazowiecki (unclear number of positions), PGE Energetyka Kolejowa for up to 100 positions, Kolejami Wielkopolskie Railways and Kolejami Mazowieckie for up to 80 positions, Warsaw Metro for approximately 100 positions. Warsaw Metro - 2024 - PL Budimex, for up to 100 positions: Budimex - 2024 - PL
The ERM considers workers relocated in other companies of the same group (PKP) as not affected by the mass lay-off. Workers being employed by external companies are, on the other hand, still considered in the "Job Reductions" count, but not as "Direct dismissals".
Updated, 6/12/2024 On 31 October 2024, PKP CARGO S.A., during restructuring, completed the process of group redundancies, which had been ongoing since mid-2024, as a result of which employment was reduced by a number of 3,665 employees, of which 2,515 people had their employment contracts terminated and 1,150 employees left for other reasons. Of the 2515 workers with their contracts being terminated, we consider 950 as relocated to other PKP companies, and therefore not counted in the minimum value of "Job reductions".
Eurofound (2024), PKP Cargo, Internal restructuring in Poland, factsheet number 201388, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/201388.
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