The prestigious title of the “Employee-Friendly Employer” was granted this year to 22 companies and institutions from all over Poland, including JSW, the biggest producer of coking coal in the European Union. Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa received a certificate for rebuilding company’s credibility, for compliance with the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, regulating remuneration matters, caring about the employees, investment security and creating new jobs. Appreciation was also shown for the model relations with employee representatives, increasing expenditures on work safety, and at the time of the mining catastrophe in 2018 – wisdom and “paternal” core of the victims and their families.

“Fair work and remuneration conditions, fair treatment of the employees and fair treatment of the employer by the employees is of absolutely fundamental importance. This is a litmus test of modern, well developing economy, and consequently of a modern, well developing and, I hope, stronger and stronger state,” President Andrzej Duda said at the ceremony of handing in the distinctions in the 11th edition of the contest “Employee-Friendly Employer”.

The contest, organized by the Solidarity Trade Union, promotes employers who stand out in using good practices with regard to compliance with labor law regulations, in particular by stability of employment, compliance with occupational health and safety rules, and the right of association in trade unions.

“Receiving today this exceptional certificate of the “Employee-Friendly Employer” from the hands of the President, I feel huge satisfaction and joy that the appropriate attitude to the matters concerning employees, who are our most valuable asset, has been recognized. Coking coal mining is the core of our business, but the priority is the good of our employees, their safety, optimal work and remuneration conditions. The management board under my direction takes care of partnership-based relations with the represented trade unions, which, in my assessment, remain among the most important entities influencing employee and social matters in a positive way,” said Daniel Ozon, president of the management board of JSW.

Candidates for the contest are nominated by Solidarity’s basic organizational units. The contest winners are companies which respect employee rights and conduct social dialogue within their structures. All these companies receive the “Employee-Friendly Employer” certificate, which can be used for three years of the date on which it was granted.