Laid-off Wawel employees could take revenge on the managing board

A group of laid-off employees of confectionery Wawel could give the managing board a taste of its own medicine at the company's shareholders' meeting on June 30. Last year a group of financial investors (AmerBank, PZU and BET Trading) and some employees elected a new president, Lech Wojcicki, whose job was to restructure the company, which was plunging deeper and deeper in the red. Wojcicki managed a turnaround, as Wawel netted zl. 1.5 million in the first quarter of this year, while in 1999 it had lost zl. 16.2 million. However, some 500 jobs were cut as a result of restructuring. Now the laid-off workers, some of whom own preferred shares, could take sweet revenge on the board, as a group of shareholders led by Mariusz Switalski will reportedly try and change the president at the coming shareholders' meeting. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 30) T.J.