Overdue employment shake up in Warsaw Power Plant

At the end of 2002 Elektrocieplownie Warszawskie (EW), controlled by Vattenfall, will employ less than 2,000, which is a twofold decrease in employment since it was privatized. Thanks to this move, wand others, within five years, the company hopes to post a profit of zl. 120 million. Around 750 employees from the EW repairs department moved today to the newly established EW Services company. According to Jacek Drezewski, the president of EW, this is the most crucial stage in the employment restructuring plan. "The workers will be employed in the new company on the same conditions as in the old one. Any foreseeable changes in staffing levels will be possible only after a year. Until January 2005 the employees - as in EW - will benefit from the same social package agreed upon with Vattenfall before privatization. The future of EW Services has been made secure thanks to long-term contracts to carry out repairs on power plants. With regard to large-scale repairs, the new company will be favored for the next three years, but in the fourth it will have to compete for orders on normal market principles," explained Drezewski. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) A.C.