PHS privatization deal to tackle social package issue later

Today the government is scheduled to approve the privatization agreement of Polish Steel Mills (PHS) with its future investor LNM. "If the social package has not yet been signed, we can attach a one-side proposal from the investor and afterwards regulate all the issues with a collective labor agreement. It would have to be negotiated anyway, as there are four trade unions in the company," said a representative of the Treasury Ministry. The unions stress that the Ministry and the investor will be held responsible for the privatization and future fate of the company and its employees. The workers are demanding zł. 1.2 billion in bonus from the investor and a six year employment guarantee. The investor is willing to grant five and a half years and proposed bonuses ranging from zł. 1,500 to zł. 3,000 per employee. "The cost of LNM's social package can be estimated at $50-60 million," said a Ministry representative. (Puls Biznesu, p. 9) M.M.