Image: 

On March 22, the ZSP union organized four pickets at Dino Supermarkets to protest various violations on the part of the employer and demand reinstatement of a fired unionist and other workers. The protest came just days after the first results of a labour inspection were sent to the union confirming a large number of violations of workers' rights by the supermarket.

ZSP has been in conflict with the supermarket since the beginning of the year when it began its union busting activity by firing people for various reasons, including for liking the union Facebook. A total of 12 workers were fired under dubious circumstances. This is when we got to know about numerous problems at the supermarket such as unpaid overtime, forced work on holidays, various violation of working time norms, health and safety risks, etc. etc. Over the past two months we have been organizing and protesting the chain. A number of court cases are also pending.

During the pickets we also uncovered new health and safety violations, probably caused by understaffing, which could present health risks to the public.

State inspections in at least 8 supermarkets over the last week have uncovered many violations and in one case, in Ornontowice, the supermarket was almost closed by the inspectors. This was one of the supermarkets the union had picketed before since an unfair dismissal had occured there.

The pickets were generally received positively by the public, who condemned the poor working conditions.

The union is continuing its campaign and hopes that more workers will join in and do something to change the situation.