The employees will be on leave for 12 months and will receive a reduced payment, it said in its statement on Monday.

The company also said the move was caused by “falling sales and freight service work” as well as “overstaffing.”

In its statement, it quoted Marcin Wojewodka, its acting CEO, as expressing hope that the trade unions will support the management in restructuring PKP Cargo.

The scheme will cover all professional groups of employees, including the management of individual company facilities and headquarters.

Later in the day, Piotr Malepszak, a deputy infrastructure minister, told a press conference that the government was “taking all possible actions to save the PKP Cargo company.”

In the first quarter of 2024, the PKP Cargo Group had 122.4 million zlotys (€28.75 million) of solid earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) compared to 359.4 million zlotys (€84.42 million) a year earlier.

The operating loss amounted to 96.8 million zlotys (€22.7 million) compared to 168 million zlotys (€39.4 million) of operating profit a year earlier.