“Perhaps it is a rumor, perhaps not, but we are supposed to be cut off from the protesters. I hope someone is thinking, because if they cut us off from the protesters, they also cut off their food. I don’t know if anyone realizes this. They should not do it. These miners do not deserve to be treated this way,” said Grzegorz Babij on TV Republika, chairman of the Inter-Company Trade Union Organization of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity (NSZZ “Solidarność”) at the Silesia Coal Mine.
Twenty-one miners from the Silesia mine in Czechowice-Dziedzice have been protesting 500 meters underground for seven days. The protesting miners have been visited, among others, by ministers from the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, members of parliament, and the chairman of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity, Piotr Duda.
“On Monday, December 29, at 9:00 a.m., an extraordinary meeting of the National Council of the Hard Coal Mining Section of NSZZ ‘S’ will be held at ‘Silesia,’ and at 10:30 a.m. a picket is planned as a sign of solidarity with the protesters – with the participation of miners’ families, residents of Czechowice-Dziedzice, and trade union representatives, including from other regions,” NSZZ “S” Podbeskidzie Region reports.
The protesters are demanding that Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka come to Czechowice-Dziedzice. Before Christmas, he had called on them to suspend the action and enter talks after January 6. They also demand that the ministry submit to the Sejm an amendment to the mining law that would cover Silesia. This concerns protective instruments that, from January 1, 2026, the December-amended law guarantees to employees of companies with State Treasury participation that are closing mines. Silesia was not included because it is privately owned.
The miners’ protest was discussed today on the program “Political Coffee” on TV Republika. Grzegorz Babij, chairman of the Inter-Company Trade Union Organization of NSZZ “Solidarność” at the Silesia Mine, said that “things are calm at the mine, and the miners are determined to continue the fight.”
“The fact that they have been sitting down there for seven days is the fault of Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka. The problem had been building up for a long time, and the culmination was the adoption of the law on the functioning of hard coal mining. As early as December 3, when the energy committee met, amendments were introduced that could also have covered other miners. Why today no minister can explain why, when it comes to lignite, private entities can be included in the law, but when it comes to hard coal – they cannot. I cannot understand this. The worst thing is that no one is able to answer this question for us,” Babij said.
He recalled that the Silesia Mine is a private mine because in 2008-2009 the then government decided to liquidate it.
“As ‘S’ and trade union organizations, we attempted to save the mine through privatization – we were running away from that axe to keep the mine and jobs in Czechowice-Dziedzice. We succeeded – we found an investor and operated for 15 years. These were not easy 15 years; during that time we struggled with complications to find our place on the market and operate, because it is known that state entities function quite differently. For 15 years we did not take a single penny from the state budget, and we paid over PLN 1 billion into the budget in levies required by the state. Today, when the mining law has entered into force, we are not able to compete on the market as a private mine. That is why we have undertaken such a fierce fight not to divide Poles and miners – we pay taxes the same way and should participate in other programs in the same way,” Grzegorz Babij assessed.
Asked by Tomasz Sakiewicz about circulating rumors of plans to cut off communication with the strikers, Babij replied:
“Birds are chirping about various things. Unfortunately, this particular bird has started chirping that something is afoot, that the entire holiday period was supposed to be calm, and that certain actions are to begin from tomorrow. Perhaps it is a rumor, perhaps not, but we are supposed to be cut off from the protesters. I hope someone is thinking, because if they cut us off from the protesters, they also cut off their food. I don’t know if anyone realizes this. They should not do it. These miners do not deserve to be treated this way.” He added, “I don’t know if anyone realizes that this could spill over, and very broadly at that, and they should think twice before making any decisions.”