Bum Deal Bums Me Out

Only 11 workers refuse illegal bum deal offered by their boss. It is depressing and their victory is needed!

Submitted by akai on September 6, 2010

I am talking about the situation of ZEFAM furniture factory workers, from a town called Nowe Miasteczko in the west of Poland. The situation has apparently been going on for months. People were not receiving their salaries, not to mention overtime pay. On August 19, some of them confronted the manager to ask when they'd get paid.

The manager went to the director's office, came back and told them to go home. They refused but he shut down the production line and after a few hours, people left. The next day the manager was at the gate of the factory with disciplinary dismissals.

In the dismissal letters, it was claimed that the workers left the workplace. The boss claimed they held a wildcat strike.

But that did not stop the boss from trying to rehire the staff - but now on "trial periods" with worse conditions. People who had worked in the factory 30-40 years were now treated like "new workers".

Only 11 workers refused.

It is completely depressing that people are do desperate that they could agree to this shit instead of hanging the boss out the factory window by his ankles.

Of course it is understandable that 50 year-old workers in an area of high unemployment do not see many prospects for themselves. They are tied to their workplaces. For some, it is the only job they have ever known.

This all makes the actions of the bosses even more despicable.

Hopefully the 11 who refused can get support and do something. Even the ones who "agreed" to the deal got no real support. There was the "mediation" of the Mayor, who just agreed with the boss that if the workers don't make trouble during their trial periods, the disciplinary dismissals would be annulled.

And what about the salaries? And the unfair dismissals? Apparently the Mayor doesn't care and is out to protect the local capitalists. Which makes him a criminal since a crime was committed in the factory (not paying the salaries and not declaring bankruptcy). I wonder if the workers have figured out yet that this "mediation" was just organized criminal activity.

This is truly depressing.

Maybe it is a good thing to find out about it though. It looks like so far no organized labour groups have tried to intervene. Hopefully we can at least make some noise about it and maybe this can lead to some action.

http://cia.bzzz.net/workers_fired_for_not_wanting_to_work_for_free

Comments