Thousands of miners and energy workers protest in Warsaw over concerns at “green transition”

Thousands of people joined protests in Warsaw today organised by 16 trade unions representing miners and energy sector workers.

The demonstrations, which targeted Polish state buildings as well as the European Commission’s offices in Warsaw, demanded that the government present a detailed plan for the sector and assurances of new career opportunities for those who will lose jobs due to the transition towards green energy.

Altogether 30 protests were registered, attended by “a few thousand people”, according to RMF24. Participants were brought by bus from around Poland to the capital.

“It is time to say: enough,” said Piotr Duda, head of the Solidarity (Solidarność) union. “We are starting a march to normality today. Even if the government does not get this, we will find a way.”

The protest organised by Solidarity in front of the European Commission’s offices focused on the “total lack of social dialogue” with the energy sector. Placards read “Yesterday it was Moscow that took our sovereignty; today it is Brussels” and “Hands off Turów”, reports Polsat.

Last month, the Court of Justice of the European Union ordered the Turów coal mine to cease operations immediately as an interim measure in response to a claim from the Czech Republic that Poland has violated EU environmental law. Prague is seeking daily fines of €5 million against Warsaw for so far failing to comply.

Today’s protesters expressed concern about their future under the EU-led transition towards greener sources of energy. The Polish government has reached an agreement with miners to phase out coal over the coming decades, but EU approval is uncertain and unions say details for other professions remain unclear.

“We have no details concerning the workers currently employed at coal power plants,” Solidarity’s Jarosław Grzesik told TOK FM. “We don’t have any employment or pay guarantees.”

“For years we have heard that the so-called green energy transition will be just and not a repetition of the 1990s, when workplaces were closed and thousands of workers were laid off overnight,” said Andrzej Radzikowski, head of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ), quoted by Polsat.

Radzikowski added that, already a year ago, the OPZZ had appealed to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki for talks about supporting the struggling sector and plans for energy transformation.

He also pointed out that the government started negotiations with unions only after miners in six coal mines joined an underground strike. “Meanwhile collective labour agreements are being terminated” he added.

Jacek Sasin, the minister for state assets, came to meet leaders of the protesting unions today. “We want to provide Poles with energy security and the workers in the sector with economic stability,” he declared.

He said that the agreement which was recently signed with miners is proof of the government’s efforts in this matter. Sasin also pledged that similar solutions will be forged across the energy sector and announced that talks are to begin tomorrow.

Poland currently relies on coal for almost 70% of its energy generation, by far the highest figure in the EU. That number has been declining in recent years, but the government, under EU and market pressure, recently outlined an ambition to reduce it to as little as 11% by 2040.

Main image credit: Jacek Marczewski / Agencja Gazeta

Agnieszka Wądołowska

Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna