Trade unions may find IPS' plan a hard pill to swallow

On August 13 the management and trade unions of Ispat Polska Stal (IPS) will discuss a strategy for the steel holding. This is likely to be a difficult meeting bearing in mind the numerous jobs and huge amounts of money at stake. The directors of IPS have presented their version of the concern's restructuring program and this provoked strong emotions among the employees. Nevertheless, "We will implement it by the end of the year," said the steel company’s spokesman Antoni Styrczula. IPS currently employs over 15,000, the number of which should drop to 10,400 by the end of 2006. The holding plans to incorporate subsidiaries directly related to its core business, but at the same time to spin-off other unrelated businesses into separate entities. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 8) M.M.