Poland: Workers' Initiative activists fired for speaking out

Poland -- The Impel-Tom Company in Zielona Gora has fired the next three activists of Workers' Initiative because they spoke loudly and openly in court about the illegal activity of their employer towards their labour union.


At the beginning of 2006 the workers of the Impel-Tom Company in Kostrzyn (which employs about 700 workers in Lubuskie voyevodship) began their fight for better wages. But when in spite of earlier promises, they still didn't receive higher payment in February, they decided to found their own labour union - the first one in Impel-Tom. Twelve persons from forty workers in Kostrzyn joined the union and the collecting of next declarations was going on. On March 7 the members of the labour union wanted to have the founders' meeting of Workers' Initiative in Impel-Tom factory. The management of the company decided to prevent it. Some people weren't let in the company and two initiators of the union, including Jacek Rosolowski, were made redundant. Rosolowski accused Impel-Tom of discrimination because of union membership and of illegal activity against Workers' Initiative. After a few months' trial, on October 31 the court in Zielona Gora brought in a verdict admitting Jacek Rosolowski was right and ordered the company to pay damages to him.

After this sentence, on November 2 three members of Workers' Initiative were fired: Czeslaw Toczek, Piotr Duplaga and Robert Szkwarek., who testified in Labour Court and spoke openly about the illegal activity of the employer towards their labour union. The Impel-Tom Company has also determined work contracts with the rest of the workers of Impel-Tom in Kostrzyn (except the guard) offering them new work conditions in the Acromar Company (which belongs to Impel-Tom). New work hasn't been offered to the above-mentioned members of Workers' Initiative. In this way the management of the Impel-Tom Company, which also manages Acromar, got rid of active members of the union effectively, using that form of lock-out as a punishment for an attempt of founding a labour union.

The Impel-Tom Company is a part of the Impel S.A. holding, which is the biggest group of outsourcing companies in Poland in security, cleaning and catering sectors. In 2005 it employed more than 17.000 workers including the disabled, which let the company get subsidies from the state. In 2005 its turnover was about 627 million zloty and the company made 21 million zloty profit. Impel S.A. is listed on the Warsaw stock exchange. In 2002 Impel was famous for its brutal pacification of the protest organized by workers of the Cable Factory in Ozarow, made to order of Boguslaw Ciupiala, owner of Tele-Fonika company.

Workers' Initiative is announcing the beginning of Polish campaign against Impel-Tom.

We are asking everyone for help. We bear large expenses for legal defense, material help and organizing demonstrations because of many dismissals of activists of Workers' Initiative. Therefore, we are asking you for financial support.

OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza
Poznan, Gorecka 154
Source:infoshop.org