Polish Coal Miners Ride Solidarity Legacy to Oblivion
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For decades, Polish coal miners have enjoyed benefits that are the envy of their working class countrymen: An annual bonus of two months’ pay regardless of performance, company-sponsored holidays, retirement before 50, and no weekend shifts. Today, that legacy of the communist era threatens the mostly state-owned mining sector and is digging a hole in the national budget.
To understand why reform remains elusive, take a drive through Upper Silesia, the coal-rich region in southern Poland that’s home to two dozen mines. The snowy countryside, drained of color in the feeble winter light, is framed by smoking chimney stacks and elevator towers that haul coal up from the pits.