Restructuring the Coal Mining Industry: Unionism, Conflict, and Cooperation: Evidence from Poland

Abstract

Apart from periods of temporary profitability, Poland's state-owned coal industry has generated huge financial losses since 1989. Despite restructuring efforts that cost taxpayers billions of złotys, the government has failed to make Silesian pits economically viable. This stands in contrast to the experience of the Bogdanka colliery, which managed to turn itself into a profitable economic business. This paper explores coal-mining reform in the broader context of conflict and cooperation in the workplace. Unions' nonconfrontational stance and managers' participative style support consensus building and cooperation, which, in turn, facilitates restructuring efforts, ultimately producing win-win outcomes. This paper also enters the debate on the role of trade unions in modern economies. Poland—the largest ex-communist East European country, in which Solidarity transformed itself into a political force—and its union-dominated mining sector offer particularly informative insights.