NEWS
PAP: Summury of Częstochowa Metallurgical Plant privatization, Privatization of the CzÄstochowa Metallurgical Plant turned out to be a great success both in social and international terms. The Ukrainian investor not only fulfilled all its obligations under a wide social package but even surpassed them. A similar situation occurred with respect to Polish-Ukrainian relations. ISD’s investment opened the Polish market for other Ukrainian companies and has been fundamental in improving Polish the trade balance with Russia.
The majority of comments made directly after the privatization concerned the high price Ukrainians paid for the Częstochowa plant. However, the transaction does not only translate into direct profit for the State Treasury but it will generate long term social, economic and political results that build up a core of the privatization upshots.
As the investor and the owner of the Plant, ISD not only fulfilled demanding obligations under the agreed social package, but even went further. Apart from a 10-year-period of guaranteed employment, pay rise and privatization bonus the employees of ISD CzÄstochowa Metallurgical Plant were granted the possibility of additional pay rise stemming from a new company bonus system, which means a PLN 100 rise per person. The new system is based on performance; therefore the increase in remuneration may be decisively higher depending on a given person. The new system was accepted by all trade unions active on the Plant.
“Negotiations of the social package were very difficult”, says Andrzej Gwiazda who headed the negotiation team that worked on the employees’ social package conditions. “We achieved superb conditions and we actually doubted the investor would fulfill them. Today, I may confirm that indeed it did and even exceeded our expectations. And for this I thank IDS Polska on behalf of the staff” Gwiazda added.
The ISD’s investment opened a wholly new chapter in the Polish-Ukrainian economic relations. In 2004, the total value of all Ukrainian investments in Poland did not exceed USD 350,000. At present, this sum has reached USD 800 million, half of which is attributed to the Ukrainian company Avto ZAZ, who bought the Warsaw based FSO car plant. Other investors also followed ISD’s footsteps. Last year, the first Ukrainian company - Astarta made its debut on the WSE.
“It is impossible to underrate the role ISD played in opening perspectives for the Ukrainian business in Poland”, says Sergey Skribka from the economic mission at the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw. “It was a breakthrough event. I am glad that the CzÄstochowa Metallurgical Plant operates successfully, because it improves the professional image of Ukrainians in Poland and blazes a trail for other Ukrainian investors”, he added.
ISD plays an important role in the trade balance of both countries. In 2006, Ukrainian export to Poland rose by approx. USD 300 million half of which is attributed to ISD. The company imports from Ukraine mainly half-finished products for the production of high quality sheets.
ISD Huta CzÄstochowa was the only European metallurgical plant to have received Russian certificates for highly specialized sheets for the production of pipes to high-pressure pipelines. Owing to this in 2006-2007, the company recorded USD 120-million worth export volume of highly processed sheet plates to Russia. It is a significant impulse improving weak Polish trade balance with Russia. No other Polish metallurgical plant can boast such a result.
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