On Wednesday, PKP Cargo’s board of directors adopted a resolution to conduct group layoffs, the carrier announced. The layoffs are to cover up to 30% of the company’s workforce.
The company said that the employees getting fired as part of the group layoff will be entitled to a cash severance payment, depending on their time spent with the company.
It added that the estimated amount of the reserve related to employment restructuring will amount to approximately 249 million zlotys (€58 million), and the anticipated annual savings in personnel costs resulting from the group layoffs would reach approximately 423.4 million zlotys (€98.5 million).
Union’s criticizm
“In order to effectively carry out the company's recovery process, a recovery plan is needed, part of which may be employment restructuring, but it cannot be the only method of repairing the company,” the head of Poland's train drivers' union told Poland’s state news agency PAP.
Continuing, he added that the board should change the managerial staff which had led the firm to this precipice, rather than laying off the workforce.
“The management wants to carry out layoffs without a repair program, we do not agree with this. This is not a repair of the company.”
PKP Cargo drowning
Ever since PKP Cargo was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in late 2013 the shares of the company have dropped by 78.43%.
According to PKP Cargo's acting CEO Marcin Wojewódka, the company is mired in debt, has been unable to pay some of its obligations, and has failed to pay a number of its invoices. Wojewódka said that restructuring is required but that the company retained liquidity.
“There is no talk about bankruptcy, liquidation, or closure. The goal of the current management's actions is to fix the sick situation in which the company has found itself in all aspects,” he said.
PKP Cargo offers logistics services, combining rail, road, and sea transport. It provides stand-alone freight transport in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia.
