The anniversary of a state-owned company, which was supposed to be an occasion for celebration, became a symbol of disappointment for many experienced employees with long service. The reason? The rules for granting anniversary benefits and severance payments were changed to the disadvantage of those who spent their entire working lives at the plant.
The anniversary benefit fell from five salaries to 1.7
Under the terminated Collective Labour Agreement, which remained in force until the end of August 2025, an employee with 35 years of service received an anniversary benefit equal to five times their salary. Now, individual employment contracts provide for only 1.7 salaries. This should be regulated by the remuneration rules, but they still do not exist.
Moreover, in the past, years worked at other plants were also included in the period of service, although only at state-owned facilities. Now, only the period of employment at the current company counts.
This means that many people who could have expected a higher anniversary benefit have fallen into a lower bracket. The same applies to retirement and disability severance payments, which have also been reduced.
The greatest disappointment is expressed by employees planning to retire in the coming years. They had counted on more favourable arrangements, but now they have to revise their plans. “We miscalculated,” employees say in conversations.
A ceremony that belonged not to the employees, but to politicians
The anniversary should have belonged to the employees, but in reality it more closely resembled a political event. A sort of election rally for Koalicja Obywatelska, which has controlled the state-owned company since 2023, following the elections.
Koalicja Obywatelska MP Zofia Czernow read out a congratulatory letter from Deputy Marshal Monika Wielichowska, while Grzegorz Przybylski, chairman of the district Koalicja in Bolesławiec, read a letter from Michał Jaros, head of KO’s Lower Silesian structures. There was also a letter from Minister of State Assets Wojciech Balczun. The speeches were considered too long, and the entire event had a somewhat partisan tone.
“Too many politicians, too few employees,” commented employees with several decades of service.
There are other complaints as well. The designers present at the ceremony were treated like celebrities, while ordinary employees working hard in the foundry and other departments went completely unnoticed. The most offended feel the retirees who spent their entire lives working at the plant—they were not the most important guests at the anniversary.