Plans to lay off as much as 30% of PKP Cargo’s workforce have been necessitated by irregularities under the previous management, acting CEO Marcin Wojewódka has said in an interview with the Fakt daily.
The firm announced plans in July to axe over
4,000 jobs to save it from illiquidity. PKP Cargo is also being
investigated by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) over allegations of graft and political mishandling.
The carrier said in July that under the previous government, its market value had plummeted by 90% while its market share had more than halved over 11 years.
Wojewódka told Fakt that when the current management took over, they found “skeletons in the closet” left by their predecessors, which had forced them to take “radical” steps including mass redundancies as well as restructuring.
Due to the company’s financial state and the evidence of malpractice, the new management informed the prosecution service of crimes they believe were committed.
Despite the rail firm’s dire financial straits, however, the acting head told the paper PKP Cargo could be rescued.
“The company has to quickly cut its costs for this year,” he said. “Recently won tenders concern cargoes for 2025 and 2026. The income from these contracts will enable us to function, though we will not yet be a profitable organization.”
The cost of lay-offs
Wojewódka said shedding 4,142 jobs would save the company tens of millions of złoty, but would come at the price of severance pay. He said outgoing staff would receive three months’ pay in compensation, though some contracts provide for more, with some contracts requiring four, five or even six months’ notice.
The notice period is being shortened to one month with the remainder paid in lieu. The contracts will terminate at the end of October, when some outgoing workers will receive eight months’ pay, amounting in some cases to around 100,000 złoty, (€23,350), according to Wojewódka.
He said the previous management had a “pretty frivolous HR policy,” citing examples such as unnecessary positions and jobs given to relatives, including the Polish president’s uncle and the father of a former ruling party MP.
The cause of the rot
Wojewódka told the daily that two key factors underpinned PKP Cargo’s decline. The first, he said, was a decision by then Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki prioritizing the transport of coal form Baltic ports to the south of the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Wojewódka said this policy “sank the company” as other contracts had to be severed in order to execute the political order, costing PKP Cargo the loss of existing customers.
Another key move the CEO highlighted was a sale and leaseback policy implemented in 2023.
“Again political,” he said. “Just before the 2023 [general] election, PKP Cargo sold its best locomotives and transferred them to leasing.”
The deal yielded the firm several hundred million złoty, Wojewódka told Fakt, but the money was not used responsibly, he argued.
“Instead of being earmarked for paying off the company’s debts, what was done before the election? Our predecessors awarded pay rises and gave away the company’s assets,” he claimed.
He said the previous management had “done everything except business,” accusing them of squandering money instead of generating business and winning contracts so that “in 2024 we have nothing to transport.”
“For five months we’ve been pulling the company out of a hole,” he said.
Notifying prosecutors
Wojewódka told the daily that PKP Cargo’s new management has sent three notifications to the prosecution service informing them of the possibility of crimes having been committed at the firm.
The first, he said, was submitted in June and concerned Morawiecki’s coal policy. Wojewódka declined to give details of the second notification “for the good of the investigation” and the third he said was also related to the coal policy and concerned a “very high state official” identified by Fakt as former minister of state assets and deputy prime minister Jacek Sasin.
PKP Cargo said in a statement on Wednesday it had sent the notification regarding what it said was Sasin’s “failure to fulfill his obligations” and contracts not being concluded due to the coal transit policy, which the firm said had harmed its interests.
