Mittal Steel close to privatization deal with unions in HCz

Mittal is offering them a zł.150 rise, a five year employment guarantee (with a 10-year option for employees over 55) and a zł.2,500 privatization bonus. This is still well below the demands of trade unions, which include a zł.500 raise, a 15-year employment guarantee and a zł.7,500 privatization bonus. Despite the difference, Krzysztof Wójcik, the head of the Solidarity trade union at the steel mill, says that negotiations are underway and are likely to reach a successful conclusion by the April 29 deadline. In fact, Solidarity had already approved a less generous offer from Mittal last year, but the privatization deal did not go through. Meanwhile, Włodzimierz Seifryd, head of the trade union negotiation team, is less optimistic and claims to be outraged by the public disclosure of the offer by Mittal. (Puls Biznesu, p. 9) T.J.