Poland
Content about workers' struggles and events in Poland.
Union spin on bum deal for airline workers
Union PR machine paints rosy picture of unfavourable deal with management.
At the end of September, unions held a protest in front of the Ministry of the State Treasury concerning the restructurization and proposed dismissal of workers at LOT Polish Airlines. The first sign that something was not right was that almost no workers from LOT were in attendance.
Coal Miners Killed in Methane Explosion.
Miners Claim that Mine Knew of Dangers and Covered them up.
Twelve people died in a methane explosion at Ruda Slaska-Kochlowice mine in Poland. Dozens of others were injured, some very seriously.
The "accident" again raises the issue of poor safety in Poland's mines, where making money often takes precedence over humand life.
Chinese workers unpaid and stranded in Warsaw face deportation
About 50 Chinese workers are camped out in front of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw. They did not receive any pay for three months, eventually went on strike and were fired.
The situation of the approximately 50 workers camped out in front of the Chinese Embassy is not unique. There are at least 400 others in a similar situation.
Wildcat Strike at NATO International School
Teachers went on strike at a school for children of NATO officers in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Teachers at the school for children of NATO officers in Bydgoszcz Poland went on a wildcat strike yesterday after several weeks of protests due to non-payment and lack of contracts.
Okna Rabien: Calluousness and indifference towards workers in the name of profit.
Dozens of Phillipino workers face deportation after problems with their employers at Okna Rabien near Lodz.
At the end of February / beginning of March, 98 workers from the Phillipines were employed at Okna Rabien window and door factory in Rabien, near Lodz. The hiring of these workers were part of management's plan to take on 200 cheap workers to replace 249 of them recently at the end of last year from the company.
Nurses fired for strike in Poland
Four nurse unionists have been fired from the Barlicki Hospital in Lodz. It's director is on the team of health care managers helping the government to commercialize hospitals and increase casualization of the sector.
The Director of the Balicki Hospital in Lodz has fired four nurses and union leaders who participating in a strike last Septmber. The strike lasted 11 days. Nurses were demanding pay raises to brings their salaries up to 2000 - 3500 zloties per month (450 -800 euro) depending on position and seniority.
1980: Poland mass strikes - Henri Simon
Henri Simon's account of the successful strike wave which swept Poland in the summer of 1980 when the government raised the price of meat.
A NEW WORLD: FROM MEAT PRICES TO DIRECT DEMOCRACY
July 1980: Spontaneous Strikes Run Rampant Everywhere 1
- 1. This article is an extract from Henri Simon's excellent book, Poland 1980-82
Occupation at union-busting Schavemaker Transport
Truck drivers plan to occupy the Polish HQ of the firm until fired union members are reinstated.
About 20 drivers from Schavemaker Transport occupied the firm's Polish headquarters in Katy Wroclawskie yesterday. They are determined to stay there until their colleagues, dismissed in a union-busting campaign, are reinstated. The action comes after drivers protesting in Holland and another Polish city were beaten by security goons hired by the company.
Anarchist groups in Poland - Lódź 1905 - 1939
Social and political situation in Lodz at the beginning of XX century:
At the beginning of XX century Lodz was a dynamically developing centre of the cotton and woollen industry. The favourable location of the city and its developing industrial infrastructure caused a rapid migration of the workers in search of the employment in its factories. At the same time, very low salaries and the lack of social security institutions caused the numerous unrests, until the year of 1906 and the general strike with so called “Lodz’s lockout” that follow.
The troubles begun in November 1906, when the management of Poznanski’s cotton factory decided to fire 96 workers, that they believed to be the leaders of the conflict and unrest within the factory.
Dismissed workers occupy factory in Poland
200 workers recently dismissed from Thomson in a Warsaw suburb occupy factory in the hopes of getting promised compensation.
Thomson factory in the Warsaw suburb of Piaseczno produces TV glass (screens and tubes). A few years ago, the Indian firm Videocon purchased all of Thomson's TV glass factories. Videocon planned to restructure the company and introduce LCD production in Piaseczno.
