Bring your own workfellow

The men have had enough of uncertainty and low earnings – so they apply for mine jobs

KARVINÁ - Indeed it works. New blood is arriving in mining. Hundreds of applicants come to the mines. They are all willing to mine for coal, to break rock driving mine galleries, to work in pillar-robbing and recovery. What is it that has caused such an upsurge of interest in mining work at OKD?

„Our new recruitment campaign has worked,“ says with satisfaction Stanislav Chobot, Human Resources Manager at Karviná Mine. „Thanks to the campaign, people at the Labor Exchange offices but also elsewhere have been able to learn from leaflets and the Horník (Miner) Weekly what are the conditions and benefits of working for OKD. And indeed, it can be seen that they were so much taken with it that they keep coming to see us every day, showing interest in detailed information and signing employment contracts.

„I have become fed up with the uncertainty of whether my employer would pay me my wages on the dates when they are due, or just pay me in part deferring the outstanding sum to some latter date,“ reasoned one of those who were interested in working at the mines. „Just to continue working at a wage of twelve, fifteen thousand gross and, on top of it, keep living under the potential threat of losing my job at the end of the season, is extremely depressing for any man who takes pains to properly care for its family,“ added another miner-to-be.

These men, and others as well, have staked their futures on the certitudes, seriousness of intent, good working conditions, higher-than-standard wages, and other social benefits offered. There are few industrial companies indeed that can boast of providing average monthly earnings of over 29 thousand korunas (according to 2007 data), two weeks of extra holidays, contributions to supplementary pension insurance amounting up to CZK 6,600 per year, potential housing allocations, free snacks, soups, supply of drinks at work time, and other employee benefits.

And seeing that one can also reckon with a recruitment bonus, which can climb as high as 20,000 korunas after the newcomer has been on the job for a one-year period, then many are keen indeed on joining the OKD outfit.

The miners themselves have taken part in the recruitment campaign. Under the slogan „Bring your own workfellow“ they offer work at the mine to their comrades and acquaintances. For „bringing in“ a skilled miner the OKD employee is entitled to a CZK 5,000 reward, and CZK 3,000 for an unskilled workfellow.

„What we offer in the first place are the professions of miner, miner-worker, mechanical workshop worker (mine locksmith), and mine electrician,“ Stanislav Chobot observes. „We provide free comprehensive training to each new employee. Admission to the job is contingent upon a good health condition, to be attested by the physicians of Karviná Miners' Hospital.
Since the beginning of the year, Karviná Mine has signed in a total of 140 new employees, of whom 40 came during the month of July alone.

The men became used to the four-shift work routine, irregular working hours, demanding work, but also to satisfactory and stable earnings and to highly creditable social background, including the benefits arising from the collective agreement. They know that it pays to work all right at OKD, they have a good perspective. The Corporation invests in new mining technologies, safety features and measures, as well as in protective aids. From then on it is only up to the individual miner's working morale and skills to reach the higher rungs of the mining profession.

(Josef Lys)