PKP Cargo has signed letters of intent with Koleje Wielskopolskie (KW) and Koleje Mazowieckie (KM) on the transfer of its employees. Earlier, the state freight operator announced mass layoffs due to the company’s dire financial situation. Now, it is trying to find replacement jobs for otherwise fired workers.

An unspecified number of PKP Cargo staff will continue their employment at KW, according to a press release by the Polish state freight operator. “The signed letter of intent enables the recruitment of PKP Cargo employees by KW in teams related to train service and preparation”, the company said. Up to 80 PKP employees from a wide range of functions will move to KM.

On the agreement with KW, PKP Cargo’s acting president Marcin Wojewódka stated: “The possibilities that the signed agreement brings are not only a chance to find a job for another group of employees in the Wielkopolska region, but above all, the development of competences, new opportunities and professional experience with a new employer.”

According to another board member, the two agreements mean that there is now a total of eleven signed letters of intent to find replacement jobs for those who stand to be fired at PKP Cargo. Supposedly, the currently signed agreements allow for the transfer of almost 2,000 employees to other companies. This is almost half of the total amount of staff to be fired, as was announced by PKP Cargo earlier.

Fake job scandal

There is some uncertainty surrounding the actual number of employees to be fired. According to Polish publication Onet, a large number of staff at PKP Cargo had double or triple fake jobs. They received salaries for those jobs, without doing the work in reality. Some documents acquired by the publication suggested that potentially hundreds of fake jobs existed at a single plant of the company.