A statement by the state assets ministry, which negotiated on behalf of the government, hailed the deal as an "historic agreement".
But Dominik Kolorz, head of a local branch of the Solidarity union, was quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza as saying: "It is hard to be satisfied when you are liquidating such an important industry.
"We did what we needed to do, which was to assist the workers," Kolorz said, adding: "It's not like everything ends today. We have a lot of work to do to create alternative jobs."
Coal sector employment has traditionally been a politically sensitive issue in Poland, a country of 38 million people where miners and their families are still a powerful voting bloc.
The agreement still has to be formally signed and submitted to the European Commission for state aid approval.
Poland currently depends on coal for around 70 percent of its energy needs and is planning to reduce this to 11 percent by 2040 before phasing out coal entirely before the EU deadline of 2050.
Environmental groups have urged the government to move even faster to tackle one of Europe's worst pollution problems.
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