Poland Coal Miners Avert Strike

oland's coal miners and the government have reached an agreement on restructuring plans that will avert a strike, union officials said Tuesday.

Miner trade union leaders said they suspended plans for a 24-hour strike Wednesday, and those for a general strike in February, after the government backed out of some of its plans for a restructuring of the industry during late-night talks Monday.

"You can never agree 100 percent, but I must admit that I am quite pleased with this agreement," Dominik Kolorz, the head of miners' Solidarity trade union said, adding that other details of the restructuring of the industry, which employs 120,000, still need to be finalized.

Specifics on the agreement were not immediately available.

Last week, the miners voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to support strike plans in protest of the restructuring which, they said, would endanger jobs and cut earnings.

Deputy Economy Minister Pawel Poncyliusz said last week the restructuring is aimed at keeping the struggling industry afloat, and that the unions' strike plans were illegal.
Source:chron.com