Pracujesz na umowie śmieciowej? Możemy pomóc!
On June 22 ZSP organized a picket in Katowice to protest against the changes in the Labor Code and Act on Trade Unions which effectively eliminate the guaranteed 8-hour work day. Speeches were made informing people of what the changes in the Labour Code actually mean and many leaflets were distributed, with many people stopping to talk and show their support.
During the picket, some told about the situation in their branches. A psychologist spoke about some of the difficulties some workers in that profession are having and a miner said that it shows how widespread the problems are and that they touch all sorts of workers, not just in areas like production or physical work. A construction worker who was passing by also wanted to speak and find out if any comrades worked in his branch. The picket attracted the attention of a wide range of people.
Despite the rain on and off, the picket lasted a couple of hours and came in contact with a lot of people.
More protests are planned around this issue in different cities in Poland.
On June 21 the case against Roche Polska continued. Our fellow worker is fighting against the corporate giant and their big gun lawyers to get his employment status recognized. The company had used outside entrepeneurs as a way of getting labor without having to give them any benefits employees are entitled to, such as paid vacation or sick leave and to avoid any responsibility; such workers are easily disposed of without the normal procedures.
At this hearing, witnesses from Roche middle management came and held the company line. One "did not recall" any daily meetings which such workers say they were required to be at in the company. The company claims that the so-called "non-employed workers" did not have to even come into work if they didn't want and in their lawsuit claim they have no idea why the fellow worker came in from 9-5 every day. But the answer is the contract given by Roche to the outside agent requiring that the worker come at these hours. A second witness gave testimony to the workers' conditions for the time he was a so-called "non-employed" worker, but as our colleague pointed out, he had never even met her in that period. So he wondered how she could speak about his specific conditions.
Observers of the case assessed that the managers' testimony was pretty much as expected and note the contradictions between what the workers claim and said in court and the line of the firm.
On June 20 we organized a demonstration in Warsaw in defence of the rights of workers and the unemployed. The demonstration was originally supposed to be just in defence of the unemployed. The government wants to introduce rules that would take unemployed people off the register, deny them benefits and even health care if they turn down any job offer. In such a way, they will drive down wages and promote shit jobs as employers will think that nobody will be able to refuse them. However, on June 13, the Sejm approved changes to the Labor Code and the Act on Trade Unions that in effect abolish the 8-hour day. (More information here: http://www.iwa-ait.org/content/poland-no-more-guarantees-working-hours) So naturally we had to protest against this issue as well.
Many people stopped to listen to some speeches, complaining that there is no good information in the media on this topic. We explained how the new rules will work and the fact that employers will be able to give workers schedules of even 12 hours a day, for 6 days a week, and then put them on leave for almost 6 months, paying them minimum wage during that time. People spoke about how hard workers struggled for the 8-hour day and how easy it was to lose it, without much of the society even being aware.
As part of IWA International Days of Action against dismissals and unemployment, we reminded workers of Capgemini Poland about the struggle of their Spanish colleagues against a redunancy plan which will affect hundreds of workers. Posters were hung around the office and leaflets given out to the people in the office building and passersby. We also reminded workers of the fact that they can be treated as disposable by companies like this and that instead of competing against each other in the race to the bottom, we need to organize ourselves and build global solidarity.
Solidarity with those in struggle in Capgemini!
Send an e-mail protest and support the workers against downsizing: http://www.zsp.net.pl/support-capgemini-workers-spain-against-downsizing
Report on a recent day of action: http://www.zsp.net.pl/cnt-ait-solidarity-capgemini-workers
On June 18, in the frame of the International Days against dismissals and in defense of the rights of the unemployed organized by the IWA, there was a solidarity picket at the Polish Institute in Berlin organized by a new Union of Unemployed of FAU and the ZSP. The picket informed people about the working and social conditions in Poland, including the shockingly low payment for the unemployed and new attempts to take away benefits and health care for anybody refusing any job offer. There was also information about the liquidation of the 8-hour day and other anti-social ideas of the authorities, such as putting people without homes in containers.
Activists from FAU and ZSP spoke to passersby about international workers' solidarity and about fighting together to improve the conditions of all, instead of getting into destructive competition and a race to the bottom.
The activists from these two unions also have made a guide with advice for unemployed Poland immigrants in Germany.
We put posters all around the Alstom headquarters in Warsaw and handed out leaflets on June 18 when workers from that company went on strike in Spain to protest the closure of factories and the dismissal of hundreds of workers. (More information can be found here. )
With this we wish to send our solidarity to the workers and to the comrades of the CNT-AIT Zamora who are also involved in this struggle. The action is also part of international days of action against dismissals and unemployment.
Updates here: www.facebook.com/iwa.ait
On June 17, ZSP organized a picket at an employment office in Wroclaw. The action is one of a series of such actions in response to government plans to deny unemployment and health care benefits to any unemployed person who refuses any job offer. Such a person who lose their benefits for a period of 9 months.
Many unemployed people stopped to talk, also proposing, among other things, to take action to get free public transport for the unemployed. The activists of ZSP handed out hundreds of leaflets and calls on people to organize resistance against the attacks on their rights and living conditions.
The action took part during a week of various actions against unemployment.
On June 13, the Polish government eliminated the 8-hour working day, a right which was won in 1919. ZSP will protest and calls for international solidarity!
We cannot allow such attacks on the working class to pass!
The actions of the government are another serious blow to the working class, which is already in a very weak position. We are in the forefront of the neoliberal social and economic policies in Europe, under constant attack - a fact which few seem to notice as the Polish working class remains silently on its knees, begging for its life in front of the executioners of its rights.
It is high time to join us in speaking out against what is happening in this country.
On June 11, members of the ZSP and the Anarchist Federation in Warsaw held an anti-capitalist action in Warsaw.
The action started off with a rather funny happening. People who pretended to be business representatives and representatives of the interests of the G8 presented their capitalist visions in a quite funny way, based on the absurdities of Polish turbo-capitalism and neoliberal dogma. They explained to the crowd how the current system of work is "inefficient" and how, in order to boast "economic growth" changes have to be made. In real life, the government is again undoing the labor law and introducing horrible changes in the name of "greater flexibility". In the happening, the capitalists just took things a few steps further but with such outrageous statements that people could not help but laugh.
The anticapitalists eventually appeared and got rid of the capitalist scum and made some speeches. Also information was spread about what was happening in the anti-capitalist protests against the G8.
Leaflets and papers were distributed. People also could get a free meal. The "capitalists" had proposed that people get paid in rice instead of money (since as everyone in Poland is brainwashed to people, if you "get too much" you don't work hard) so they had rice on hand. The rice was later distributed to poor and homeless people, which are becoming so much more common on the streets of Warsaw.
Poland is very strongly in the hold of the right-wing these days, but we managed to make a lot of people laugh at the absurdity of some typical neoliberal dogma.
On June 8 an informational-solidarity action was held in support of the comrades fighting for direct employment and decent working conditions at the Heinrich-Böll Foundation in Berlin. The comrades of the FAU Education Union have started a conflict with the Foundation over the issue and we support the demands. (More information here. )
The action took place at a conference which is being sponsored by the Foundation. We handed out leaflets to the people there, most of whom expressed interest and even support for the issue. We found that some people had already emailed friends links to the information we had put on the internet. We also went up to a women from the Polish branch of the Foundation, explaining our action. Unfortunately, she seemed to believe that we "must be mistaken" and did not believe there was any conflict in the Foundation. But we drew everybody's attention to the text of FAU, which was also on our leaflets.
With this action we hope to make the Foundation aware that we take this issue seriously and will hold them to task, to ensure an end to precarious working conditions there and that they provide everybody with a decent salary.
