Union of Syndicalists, Poland

ZSP Starts Rent Strike Action

2010-09-14T12:05:00.001-07:00

ZSP Warsaw is calling for a rent strike starting on Oct. 1. The strike is meant as a protest against the housing policy of the city and against serious problems with the reprivatization process in Poland. It is meant as a means of radicalizing tenants' protest, which the local politicians try to ignore. It aims to bring together tenants who face eviction or live in dangerous and substandard housing to organize for their own mutual self-defense. The strike will be accompanied by public meetings, assemblies and hopefully the creation of neighbourhood committees.

A brief description of some of the most pressing problems of Warsaw tenants:
- In April 2009, rents were raised up to 300% in some Warsaw neighbourhoods. Local politicians, at the time, claimed that this was necessary in order to repair houses which are in a tragic state. Unfortunately, when it was time to submit the city budget for 2010, it turned out that this money was earmarked, among other things, for bonuses for politicians. Only consistent protest led to part of this money being returned, and then only in the Praga district.

- The income criteria for receiving public housing is far too low and is not based on reality. In some countries, criteria are based on indicators such as the average cost of housing in the city. As the Tenants' Defense Committee pointed out in inquiries and statements to the President of the City of Warsaw, rental of one-room flats in Warsaw on the commerical market start at about 450 euros per month and the only housing which could be cheaper is the illegal subletting of municipal flats. Yet people with incomes over 300 euros per month are not eligible for public housing.

- The city of Warsaw, in its housing policy until 2012, plans on reducing the number of municipally owned and run flats.

- Since the city does not repair its public housing, thousands are forced to live in substandard conditions, including: lack of heat; lack of private toilets / bathrooms; fungus problems; living in buildings which may collapse; severe overcrowding; living in buildings where there are fire hazards and threat of explosion (faulty gas installations and homemade heat installations). When the city does react, it is usually to resettle people from these houses. People are forced out of their communities and people who had some problems with paying rent in the past are moved into worse "social housing", which might even be a container.

- When repairs are done, tender contracts are usually awarded to the same companies connected in some way to the public housing mafia. The Tenants Defense Committee has documented many cases of repairs done at artificially inflated costs or not done at all, but charged to the city.

- Tens of thousands have been affected by the reprivatization process. The city does not consider tenants to have the right to be informed about claims on their buildings, does not provide them information on the process or even the names of the new owners of the building. (The Tenants' Defense Committee helps people obtain this data.) Many claims turn out to be fraudulent but the law considers that once a property is resold, it cannot overturn the sale based on fraudulent acquisition of the property to begin with. Tenants in reprivatized houses often become the victims of slumlords who illegally raise their rents many times above the permitted level and who use tactics such as cutting off heat or water to get people out. The legal system does not protect people against these things in practice. Many tenants cannot afford the new rents and become debtors, subject to eviction. The city does not automatically supply replacement municipal housing.

There are many other problems. A shortened version of the Tenants' Defense
Committee's report to the City of Warsaw can be found here in Polish.

It is clear that the city has, for years, been collecting rent from tenants but refuses to invest this money in either the maintainance of buildings or the construction of new public housing. Local politicians have been diverting money from public housing and allocating less and less for this purpose. Tenants do not have any influence in this matter - unless they protest and hold these politicians accountable.

ZSP thinks that even this is not enough. Public housing belongs under popular control, which will prove more efficient and beneficial than spending countless hours trying to track down, expose and correct the fraud committed by the local housing authorities, real estate speculators and reprivatizers and local politicians on a daily basis.

Thousands of people in Warsaw currently face eviction because they are not able to pay their rent. Some are unable, but some are simply protesting against things like illegal rent hikes or fraudulent reprivatizations. The rent strike is a way for people to articulate their protest and stop being nameless individuals lumped into the category of "debtor". It is also a way for people to see this problem in a political context.

Until now, debtors or potential debtors have faced their problems in isolation. We would like people to see that their problem is common and understand their position as an affected class, with a view towards organizing for mutual self-defense against eviction, slumlords and fraudulent privatization.

Banners are appearing on buildings and public places around Warsaw and posters and propaganda material on the streets and in the houses. (On the photo, banner reading: "Evict the public officials before they evict you".) Some protests and neighbourhood meetings will kick off this action at the beginning of October.
Updated information will appear on the page of the campaign (in Polish)

www.strajkczynszowy.pl

Warsaw: Pickets at Azteca Bar Continue

2010-08-23T23:07:00.000-07:00

Pickets at Azteca Bar in Warsaw are continuing. After failure to make any progress with the boss on Friday / Saturday, ZSP decided to picket the establishment every day at lunch and dinner hours. The protests are related to illegal deductions taken from the pay of our dismissed comrade, attempts to make people work illegally, without any contract and unpaid trial periods, with 'training' that the boss wants to charge workers for if they do not work a certain period of time.

During the first picket on Monday, the boss of the bar became very agressive towards the leafleters and started making many threats. According to him, handing out leaflets should end in 'criminal charges" and he threatened to sue us for losses his business has incurred due to our pickets. He made a great scene, shouting at and filming the protestors and calling the police. Neighbours and passersby then got involved in the argument. Most people tell him he should pay the money.

In the evening the protestors consisted of more senior citizens and the boss became more subdued and only shouted at the younger people. Again the police and city guards were called and again the boss was told that we have the right to picket him. We promised that we would return tomorrow, he could be assured.

Although we presented our demands clearly enough, the boss now asked us for an official letter, which we will present him tomorrow. What we will demand is:

- payment of all money due to our comrade (he does not want to be reinstated, and after meeting the boss, we don't blame him)
- no more attempts to charge workers for "training" and no unpaid trial periods
- legal hiring and working conditions
- no more illegal deductions from pay
- full-time contracts for employees that want

The pickets have created a lot of discussion in the neighbourhood and has been on the news. After the first picket already other restaurant workers contacted us and are considering a campaign.

First Picket at Azteca Bar

2010-08-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

On Aug. 20, ZSP held an action at Azteca Bar in Warsaw. We are demanding an end to the deliberate cheating of vulnerable workers in this cafe.

The problems which led to the conflict are the following:

1. The owner of the bar (Jakub Mazur) uses unpaid trial periods for workers. On top of that, he claims that he provides "training" to the workers and estimates the value of this training at 1300 zloties (326 euro). He gives the workers contracts which state that this money will be deducted from their salaries if they do not work a certain period of time. It is approximately one month's salary - for full-time workers, So if somebody works only one month, s/he will receive nothing.

Most of the workers are students, working part time. Our comrade, a high-school student, was earning about 500 zloties a month (125 euros), so this fake "training" would cost people like that almost three months' salary!

2. Besides this, our comrade was fired and the boss illegally withheld over half of the pay for "damages".

3. The boss tries to get students to agree to work illegally, without any contracts at all.

Azteca Bar is located near a student dormitory. These students, many who are poor kids from other cities struggling to study in Warsaw, are often desperate to find any work in a city with high youth unemployment. Work in Azteca Bar may end up for them as a few weeks or months of unpaid or underpaid labour. We therefore warn them against working in these conditions.

We demand that the bar pay our comrade his due salary, stop the practices mentioned above and raise the wages.

During the action, activists from ZSP blocked the cafe, spoke about the work conditions there and handed out leaflets to passersby. The owner of the cafe called the city guards and police who came but nothing happened. We spoke with the owner, who would not answer questions about his illegal practices and just kept repeating that we should send letters in writing to his bookkeeper and take him to court. We explained that we would come even every day to his cafe if we had to. And we will do exactly that today.

ZSP will also prepare some workshops for the students living in the dormitory on their rights as workers and is preparing a new booklet explaining about deductions and fines at the workplace. It is a common problem and, especially in restaurants and cafes we hear a lot about illegal deductions. We would like people to know what is legal and what is not and give them ideas for action to fight against such practice.

Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement Interview with a Member of ZSP

2010-07-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

The ZSP is an anarchosyndicalist union in Poland. Can you tell us a bit about it, when did it form and has there been similar organisations in Polish history? Where has it drawn inspiration from?

ZSP was formed in 2007 with a small group of people from a few cities and has been growing ever since. Before the war there was an anarchosyndicalist movement in Poland but it was smashed by the Nazis and then by the communists. ZSP was formed because of the need to have such a group in Poland now.

What is the membership like? Where in Poland does ZSP exist and does the group seem to be growing since forming?

There are different people. Recently more young people started joining as well. The two biggest groups are in Wroclaw and in Warsaw, but there are also groups in Szczecin and regional groups in Silesia, Mazovia and in Mazuria. Now some individual members are popping up and trying to form groups in new cities. There is also an education section which is spread around Poland.

Is there a high level of class consciousness in Poland and a strong working class movement?

Class consciousness? Not really. The irony of living in a post-communist country is that, since many people rebelled against the system, people developed a very strong pro-capitalist mindset.

The working class movement exists, although not as strong in some places. Union membership is comparatively high in Poland, but this has traditionally been in the budget sector and state-run or formerly state-run factories and in heavy industry. But high union concentration does not always mean that the workers are involved in any struggles. In some cases, the unions actually prevent the struggles from happening.

What are the main problems for workers in Poland and what is the current focus of the ZSP?

Poland is Europe B. This means that wages are quite low here and working conditions are bad. There is relatively high unemployment and people are expected to really overwork to make ends meet. Then there is the constant threat of losing one’s job or being replaced by somebody who will work cheaper. These are usually people from the countryside or foreigners but they can also be, for example, students.

Right now, ZSP would like to grow as an organisation but also to participate in some real workplace conflicts and get practical organising experience. So our focus is to reach out to working people in various ways: to inform them of their rights and struggles, to help when they have conflicts and encourage them to action.

Judging from the ZSP website, there appears to be a lot of activity, particularly picketing workplaces. Is the ZSP generally very active and is this having an effect?

In the two larger groups, yes. The level of activity is partially related to the size of the groups and the experience it has had.

I think anybody considering anarchosyndicalist activity and workplace organising has got to have a sober look at reality: it is possible to have an effective campaign, but not every campaign is, and some can be, but only after a long period of building and doing consistent work.

This means that, yes, we have had some victories and have helped in numerous concrete cases. The majority of our campaigns bring some results, even if not completely what we were demanding. On the other hand, there have been a few things which haven’t brought any result yet. But we look at the latter also positively because it is about trying, not giving in to the bosses, giving them a headache when they do something wrong, showing opposition and getting the word out about these problems. And that’s the thing: sometimes the effect is not that you win demands but that other workers hear about it and maybe realise their rights were violated or feel encouraged to fight also. And it is sometimes the case that the negative attention scares the business that are violating workers’ rights and they stop - at least for a while.

ZSP has an Educational Section currently holding weekly actions outside schools, can you tell us about that and how its going?

Now there is a break in the summer. Basically, this was to inform students and teachers about the processes involved with the commercialisation of education - something generally supported in Poland. One of the results is that education workers have become largely aware of how their rights and working conditions are changing and some have invited us to lecture on the topic at universities. In some cities, the most precarious workers, doctoral students working as lecturers, have organised or are organising themselves in networks - some are in ZSP. Students have not been too responsive though.

What is the Bologna Process?

It is a process which is implemented slightly different in different countries belonging to the Council of Europe. Basically, it lays out ideas and guidelines for making education a more commercially viable product and for getting education to serve the needs of the capitalist labour market.

Does the ZSP face the problem of police repression or attacks from fascist or others? How is this dealt with?

Rather no. Although of course from time to time some of our members are arrested at something.

The worst things fascists do is spam our webpages.

Many Polish workers have moved to neighbouring countries in western Europe in recent times in search for better wages. After the financial crisis, it has become harder to secure work abroad. Has this changed the situation for workers in Poland and what is the result?

Good question. Some Polish workers moved to different countries which before were less attractive. Others have come back to Poland and, in some areas and jobs, this has depressed wages.

Do you see the class composition and society in Poland as fertile ground for anti-capitalist revolutionary struggle?

The mentality of people is currently quite conservative and right-wing. The class composition is not the only thing that determines whether the ground is fertile.

What are some of the long-term political and organisational goals envisioned by ZSP and its members?

As mentioned before, one of the first priorities is to expand our organisation so that it can function in more places and simply do more. The size of the organisation in part will determine our goals. We concentrate now mostly on short-term goals and of course, we never know what conflicts will appear on our door. But if we’d say anything about the long-term, of course we would like to be an organisation which can fight abuse in the workplaces and which would encourage people to self-organise in a truly grassroots manner.

Like most people of our tendency, of course we would like to overthrow the capitalist system, etc. etc.; we will never give up this dream, but for now, in order to go forward, we like to concentrate on building up in areas where we and the working class in general are weak.

M, ZSP

Source: http://awsm.org.nz/

Meeting / Discussion With Priama Akcia in Bratislava

2010-07-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

On June 9, members of Priama Akcia from Slovakia met to hear about some practical experiences of ZSP campaigns at a discussion held in Bratislava. The talk focused on the lessons drawn from from four concrete ZSP campaigns: at Greenway, Lionbridge, Groenflex and JW Construction. Each of these experiences presented different questions about organizing tactics worthy of discussion and consideration including the concrete problems of establishing workplace commissions, union busting, organizing young, casual workers and foreigners and direct action.

We hope Priama Akcia will also visit us in Poland soon!

Picket at Start People

2010-06-24T23:32:00.000-07:00

ZSP again took part in the International Day of Actions at the Start People temporary work agency. The action is in solidarity with our comrade from CNT-AIT Zaragoza and with all workers struggling against precarious employment conditions.

Last November, Start People tried to change the contractual conditions of a group of people working in Qualytel. Our comrade who refused to accept worse conditions did not have her contract renewed. Although the court later ruled that she was essentially dismissed illegally, and although the court found an illegal transfer of workers, she was not reinstated in her job.

Comrade Irantzu and the CNT won't give up and are still fighting for her reinstatement.

Members of ZSP picketed Start People in Warsaw, giving out leaflets about this case, newspapers and information about problems with temporary work. The workers at Start People, who received information and spoke with us about the case last time, also came out to ask how the comrade's case is going. They said they would again inform Start People that we were there.

Besides Warsaw, pickets also took place in Sochaczew and Pruskow.

Picket at H&M

2010-06-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

18 June was a picket in the center of Warsaw at HM. The picket was related to two cases of violating workers' rights. The first was in relation to the horrible tragedy at the Garib garment factory in Bangladesh, On February 25, 22 workers were killed in a fire. The workers were locked in the factory and could not escape; on top of that, there were numerous safety violations. The National Garment Workers Federation is calling for compensation for the families of the victims and better safety standards at the factory.

More information:
http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent-actions/garib-fire-survivors-call-for-justice-and-a-safe-industry

The second has to do with the case of Diego, a worker in a Madrid shop who was forced to sign his own resignation against his will. The CNT is demanding he be reinstated to his job and will not tolerate such intimidation of workers. Several pickets have been held in Spain about this case and the CNT called for international actions.

In Warsaw we stood in front of the main doors and some people went inside the shop. Leaflets were given to everybody going in and out of the shop. The management was informed why we were there. The manager panicked and called security guards to get us away. But we told them they have no right to chase us away. There was some tension with the security but they did not manage to make us leave. We told them that we surely would be back with a larger group of people over the weekend.

The text of our leaflet (in Polish) is on our main page: www.zsp.net.pl

Election Boycott

2010-06-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

As usual, we call for a boycott of elections. 20 June are presidential elections. ZSP Warsaw will go around 19-20 June with anti-election propaganda. 18 June is an action in the center of Warsaw.

We call on people to reject voting as a means of change and to build grassroots organizations to fight the system and form the basis for popular self-government.

Each time there has been anti-election campaign, it finds widespread public support.

There are two web pages (in Polish) related to this action: www.wybory.zsp.net.pl and www.bojkot-wyborow.blogspot.com

Anti-Frontex Conference

2010-05-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

The anti-Frontex conference took place on May 22. We will soon publish some videos with a slide show and audio, outlining the most important points of the conference.

It was shown how the Frontex mission has expanded, militarized and become more repression and wide-reaching in the five years of its existence - often without any clear mandate to expand its powers. Its role in surveilling both immigrants and local populations was discussed, as were the ramifications of its programs and the technology it is implementing.

The issues of privacy, control, the role of the state and of capitalism were discussed. There was also a presentation about which corporations are benefitting most from selling border and data management technology.

Anti-Repression Action

2010-05-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Despite the rain, March 19 there was an anti-repression action in the center of Warsaw. The action was held to draw public attention to various types of repression against political activists, protestors, workers and unionists and in particular to cases related to our comrades.

Some speeches were made and leaflets given out about cases of repression against workers' activists (from FAU, CNT, ZSP) and about the current situation in Mezhdurechensk. We spoke about the situation with Priama Dija in Ukraine and other cases in Russia, such as the case of Andrei Kutuzov from Autonomous Action.

We also explained that this protest coincided with the trial of the Lisbon 11 and reminded people about the famous cases of arrests of antifascists in Warsaw and, more recently, in Bialystok.

Finally, we also reminded people about the outrageous case of the Belgrade Six.

Below are some photos.

Meeting with Women in Walbrzych

2010-05-16T09:19:00.001-07:00

Members of ZSP from Warszaw and Wroclaw were invited to meetings in Walbrzych with women facing problems such as unemployment, precarious working conditions and lack of proper housing to talk about experiences and proposals for tackling these issues.

The women, many of them single mothers, complained about poor working conditions and lack of decent employment. They complained about how many workplaces try different methods to make people work for free and about conditions in supermarket work. Many are unemployed and some find lack of childcare facilities a barrier to employment. (On this issue, a concrete proposal was made and it looks as if the women will take steps to organize some sort of collective child care center in the place the meeting was held.)

Another issue for women was housing, both poor conditions and lack of it. Some of the women squatted vacant municipal housing when city bureaucrats proved unwilling to help them, making repairs and bring it to liveable standards. They are facing both repression from the city (eviction attempts) and problems with things like getting water and electricity installed. A member of ZSP Warsaw active in the tenants' movement also advised on what could be done and the need to organize grassroots movements in the city.

The participants considered the meeting successful and fruitful and hopefully some follow-ups will take place soon.

Conference against Frontex (Program)

2010-05-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

On May 24, corporations and EU bureaucrats wll attend a conference and exhibition on “Surveillance Technology for Border Control” hosted by the EU migrant-hunting agency, Frontex. May 25, the "European Day of the Border Guard" and the 5th anniversary of Frontex, a conference to be attended by key European decision-makers entitled "The Future of Border Management in Europe including the Role of Frontex” will also take place. A small act of resistance - a counter-conference and protest at the location of the conference.

The state and capital has long sought to divide and conquer .The accidental placement of people within national borders often determines, like class, if they are born into relative prosperity of poverty. Workers have moved around the globe for ages, in search of better conditions, in search of escape from unbearable poverty. But these victims of poverty, war, internal displacement and ecological misfortune and being hunted by the agents of border management, working to ensure that the world's supply of cheap labour be kept in place, working to pander to racists and xenophobes, to protect Fortress Europe from people that the policies and practices of European states and capital often displace. Working people are pounded with propaganda to convince them that this is necessary and in their interests when, in fact, they are paying for this cruel and deadly regime.

As the surveillance and policing technologies are increasing, the same technologies used to control migrants at borders are used against protestors and other dissenters to exert more social control.

Our desire for freedom is a flame more intense than their plan for control!
Conference: Frontex: Technology, Surveillance and Policing

Saturday May 22
at Plan B - al. Wyzwolenie 18
Start 14:00

14:00 Presentation: What is Frontex? Immigrant hunting, the technology of border control and activities of Frontex. Laure Akai, Marc Duff and panel of guests from anti-border groups.

15:00 Border Management Systems in the EU - the Role of Corporations.
Laure Akai, Jakub Zaczek

16:00 The Technology of Surveillance and Control in the Framework of EU Border Protection
Katarzyna Szymielewicz (Panoptykon)

Discussion

20:00 onwards (at Nowy Świat 11) - About the international campaign against Frontex
Past actions, discussion with participants

ZSP Warsaw, Panoptykon Foundation

Action against Repression

2010-05-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

No Reprisals by Boss or State! The fight against capitalism and fascism will never be extinguished!

Meeting against repression and in solidarity with:

COMRADES REPRESSED BY THE BOSSES (and sometimes authorities as well)

- FAU Berlin
Basically forbidden from calling themselves a union, the boss of Babylon Mitte Cinema fought the efforts of workers to organize themselves and terrorizes FAU with stiff state-imposed sanctions. We support their struggle to act without interference from the bosses or the state, in defense of workers' self-organization and struggle.

- A. from Green Way
Former employee of Green Way, threatened without basis by management lawyers with up to 14 years in jail for speaking out against unpaid trial periods and other employer abuse at this chain of vegetarian restaurants.

- Comrades from CNT in Spain
There are several situations where there are work conflicts, harrassments, reprisals and dismissals of CNT activists by from Start People temp agency, Oceano publishing, Mercadona supermarkets, Gros Mercat, Pilsa, Casolo group in Toledo and others.

This list is just the tip of the iceberg!

ACTIVISTS REPRESSED BY AUTHORITIES

- The Lisbon 11
On trial for bullshit arrests made in 2007 during an antifascist demo protesting attempts to rehabilitate Salazar. May 19 will see the continuation of their trial.

- The Białystok 13
Arrested April 24 during a demo against racism and nationalism, 13 people have charges related to fighting in public; the demonstration was attacked first by nationalists, then by police. They face up to 3 years in jail if convicted.

- Priama Dija
Ukrainian anarchosyndicalist student union, whose activists, fighting against the commercialization of eduaction, are expelled, repressed and harrased for their activity.

- The Belgrade 6
Although their charges have been changed, they are still on trial connected to an act of vandalism at the Greek Embassy in Belgrade which caused 18 euros worth of damage. They already spent 6 months in jail on ridiculous charges and may still face jail or penalties.

-Andrei Kutuzov
Activist from Autonomous Action in Tyumen, arrested by the FSB for handing out leaflets. Any leaflets against the government tend to easily be labled "extremist".

We also cannot forget the appeal against convictions for demonstrating against Council of Europe in Warsaw in 2005 and other ongoing cases against demonstrators in Poland!

We send our solidarity and support to all these comrades, struggling for grassroots workers' movements, struggling against capitalism, the state and creeping fascism!
May 19 at 18:00 Metro Centrum.

ZSP Warsaw

Warsaw First of May

2010-05-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

First of May in Warsaw was a local picket and demo in the Praga neighbourhood help by ZSP. Besides talks about worsening work conditions, especially caused by casualization of labor, there was talk of local problems like gentrification. Hundreds of leaflets and papers were handed out.

Before the demo there was a picnic and afterwards, a discussion about labor precarity in the Infoshop.

This year, ZSP picket was target of a counterdemonstration made by nationalists, who also had anti-capitalist slogans but demand jobs for Polish people in Poland and are for national segregation of labor markets.

May First - Day of Struggle

2010-05-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

In Wroclaw activists from ZSP reminded that although May Day is day off in Poland, workers on contracts can be obliged to work since they are not included. A big banner was hung on huge sexist billboard attracting workers to package holiday in sun that most people can not any more afford. Banner said "First of May: Day of Struggle for Rest". There were visits to places where people had no day off.

Against Frontex

2010-04-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

Call for Participation

Against Frontex, State Surveillance and Corporate Exploitation of Migrant Poverty

May 22-24, Warsaw, Poland

Conference:

Frontex: Technology, Surveillance and Policing.

Saturday, May 22

In Warsaw, the state-supported migrant hunters at Frontex will be discussing surveillance technology presented by corporate profiteers at a two-day conference organized by Frontex on May 24-25. We wil speak out against the border regime, against state surveillance, capitalist exploitation of migrant labour and labour market control systems and Frontex.

Confirmed topics:

Migrant Hunting, Technology and Frontex

EU Border Management Schemes, Corporations and Capitalism

The Role of the State and Supranational Institutions in Policing and Social Control

We are calling for people who would like to speak on these topics on a panel or on other topics to submit proposals by Sunday, May 9th at the latest. We can provide translation for Polish, English, French, Spanish, German or Russian speakers.

People who need free housing should write by May 20.

Contact: warszawa@zsp.net.pl

Solidarity with Lisbon 11

2010-04-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

Again we sent protests about the situation of the 11 antifascist demonstrators persecuted by the state. Once again, the state shows who and what it is protecting with its police forces. We will call on antifascists to demonstrate against this repression sometime in May.

More information about the case can be found here.

Solidarity with Direct Action

2010-04-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

ZSP expresses its solidarity with Direct Action from Ukraine and against repression of this radical student union. A protest was made and letters delivered to the Embassy in Warsaw. A solidarity picket should also take place in May.

Activists from Direct Action, who fight against commericalization of education, have been threatened, expelled from university and harrassed by authorities. Involved in this are also university authorities connected to secret services.

We support the struggle of Direct Action and condemn these moves by authorities.

The solidarity appeal can be found here:
http://cia.bzzz.net/solidarity_appeal_from_ukraine_stop_repression_of_student_trade_union

Campaign against Temporary Work

2010-04-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

ZSP is taking part in the weeks of actions against temporary work called by the IWA. Besides pickets at Start People, many issues of the paper Zaplata have been distributed across Poland. A special page was set up to help people get information about this topic. It can be found here: www.tymczasowi.zsp.net.pl

On May 1, a public discussion on the topic will be held in Warsaw after the May Day demo.

More actions are planned for May and June, especially for students and seasonal workers who may take temporary summer jobs. Information aboutwork agencies known to cheat can be found on our different webpages.

Wrocław: Picket at Start People

2010-04-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

15 April ZSP Wrocław made a picket at Start People Temporary Work Agency.
The picket concerned the case of workers at Start People in Spain and the demands to reinstate a member of CNT who did not want to sign accept lower pay and worse working conditions. The firm later admitted that she was unfairly dismissed but offered compensation instead of reinstatement.

The management of the firm received a letter in which ZSP expressed its anger about the situation. [The text is here in Polish, PDF] Passersby were also given the latest issue of the ZSP paper "Zapłata" which this time is dedicated to the problem of temporary work and also contains an article about the situation in Start people.

Picket at Start People

2010-04-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

9 April, ZSP made a picket at the Warsaw office of temporary work agency Start People. This was part of international day of action called by CNT Zaragosa, whose member had rights violated, was illegally dismissed and demands return to work.

Workers from Start People came to talk to ZSP about the reasons for the protest. People coming in and going out of agency received new issue of ZSP paper Zaplata which contains many articles about temporary work, including information about rights of temp workers and examples of actions made when there were problems at work.

This action is first in series about temporary work which will be made in Warsaw this month.

Tenants Action in City Council

2010-04-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, tenants blocked Warsaw City Council, demanding special session devoted to housing problem. This session took place April 8. Over 200 people came to session. Members of ZSP in Warsaw are in Tenants Defense Committe and prepared large report on administrative corruption and violation of rights of tenants and housing laws. Our comrade from spoke a long time on this subject with expose of problems and made demand that housing be out of control of politicians and into more direct control of people with transparency, accountability and recallability.

Green Way Pickets Continue

2010-03-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend there were more Green Way pickets. Green Way has been keeping up its demands to the chain, but the management maintains the line that there is nothing it can do about its franchise holders. In the meanwhile, we found out that turnover is quite high in one Warsaw restaurant due to bad conditions. Also, new recruits are being offered unpaid training or training with only symbolic pay, less than half the minimum wage, in Gdynia. A few people have contacted us asking whether or not this is legal and seeking our advice.

Huge Victory for Tenants Group

2010-03-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

There was a huge victory for the Tenants Defense Committee, which members of ZSP Warsaw are active in .At the end of last year, we caught the Ministry of the Economy trying to sneak through legistlation that would be extremely unfavourable for tenants. The legislation would have allowed landlords to be able to raise rents every month and would have facilitated eviction and other means of forcing people out of public housing.

The legal analysis and social assessment we prepared was introduced in Parliament for discussion and protests were sent. We are happy to say that the bill is now dead and politicians have openly stated that it is because of what we prepared.

Although this type of thing may happen from time to time somewhere else, it is rather unheard of that a group like this can manage to block anything,especially something prepared by such a powerful institution as the Ministry of the Economy. This is quite a unique victory in this country and one which we think may have saved tens of thousands of people from homelessness, debt and misery.,

ZSP, besides being involved in workers' issues, is also involved in a number of other matters, especially the tenants' movement, the movement for free and universal education, for free public transport and for the improvement and against the dismantling of the public health care system.

Protests at Green Way Restaurants

2010-03-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

On March 15, protest actions took place at Green Way restaurants in Wroclaw, Warsaw, Olsztyn and Lodz. At the Wroclaw restaurant, the local Food Not Bombs collective joined ZSP and, with the slogan "Free Work, Free Food", the activists gave out free food at the entrance to the blocked restaurant. The idea was that, since the restaurant does not want to pay workers, why not go one step further - and not charge people for eating?

At the Wroclaw action, former employees cheated by the restaurant took part and when the boss came out to complain about the free food, demanded their salaries.

By all accounts, the free food was much better than the frozen fast food crap at the vegetarian McDonalds.

The owner of the restaurant called the police but open arriving, they went into the restaurant and then went away, refusing to do anything about the action.

Worst Employer of the Year

2010-03-08T03:25:00.000-08:00

The "winners" of the Worst Employer of the Year Award, were announced yesterday in Warsaw. The competition was rather hard this year, with about 150 nominees to choose from, sent in by angry workers. Special notice was given to two firms with the largest amount of employees writing in: bank PKO BP and Empik, Poland's largest chain of bookstores.

Mobbing, unpaid overtime, discrimination, arbitary whims of the boss - these were the most frequent complaints of the workers. But some complaints were much more serious that others, or we found so outrageous that they made their way onto the shortlist. The winners of this year's contest were:

3rd place - was the firm Heko from Poznan. The company is involved with waste disposal management. Despite the fact that it is run by a woman, on of the biggest problems in the company is sexist discrimination. The women who wrote claim that women at Heko are especially singled out for inquisitions on their personal life and mobbing is common. And there was one thing which inspired us to give Heko this award more than anything. Apparently they are ultra-paranoid about having to pay for maternity leave and "interested" in what women are doing with their bodies. In order to spy on them and assess if anybody might be hiding an early pregnancy, the management has been known to go through women's things, including their purses... and to go through the women's toilets in search of used sanitary napkins after women have used them. This we found quite outrageous, so we gave Heko third place in the contest.

2nd place - was not a single company, but a person, Kamila Chorostecka, the owner of some bars and fast food restaurants in Wroclaw. Apparently Kamila likes to impose fines on the workers for all nature of infractions. Although certain contractual penalties may be legally imposed on workers, what she is doing is illegal and, by piling on loads of fines at the end of the month, she gets herself suckers who have worked a month or sometimes longer for practically nothing. In other words, she finds lots of excuses not to pay workers. A worker may get fined for putting a sweater on over a short-sleeved shirt, which she wants people to wear, despite the fact that it is cold and people even have to work outside. Or there may be a fast food where there is service inside but tables outside. The worker, who may have to serve the whole place by him or herself, may be, at the same time given two contradictory orders: don't leave the place inside unattended and don't leave any things on the tables outside..Leaving the post to clean the trash may be subject to a fine, as well as not doing it. In other words, Kamila is a right crazy bitch and the discriptions of her exploits won her the second place in our hall of shame.

The "winner" of the competition is much more dangerous. The consortium Alpine, which is building the National Stadium in Warsaw and was building the A1 highway in Silesia received this dishonour; there were numerous complaints in both locations.

The most serious problem was the incident that led to the death of two workers at the National Stadium in Warsaw. A long series negligence and of cover-ups has been exposed, with workers claiming that the firm has falsified documents to cover up their liability.

Alpine is not actually the official employer of many on its sites as it uses a complicated net of subcontractors. Often workers have no idea who they are actually employed by. Numerous problems have included lack of payment, forced, unpaid overtime, dangerous conditions and substandard housing (freezing containers).

Workers on the A1 claimed that the highway project was more like a work camp, with people being forced to work even 16-18 hours a day, 7 days a week. There were lots of problems, including giving workers annexes to their contract decreasing their pay; those who refused to sign were fired without notice.

All of the worst employers will be announced in the press and their "awards" delivered in rude fashion.

ZSP on Women's Day Marches

2010-03-08T02:12:00.000-08:00

Members of ZSP from Warsaw, Olsztyn and Wroclaw took part in women's day marches (called Manifa in Poland) on March 7. In Wroclaw and Warsaw there were radical blocks organized.

In Wroclaw, people had a banner with a scale stating that "women's work does not pay", in reference to both wage differences between men and women and the fact that in many low-paid service sectors and "feminized" professions, women are stuck doing hard jobs for little money. Many of the slogans chanted there were responses to the liberal feminists on the march who want a certain liberal feminist leader to become president. They chanted "No patriarchy, no capitalism" and "We don't want parity, we want revolution", among other things.

In Warsaw ZSP marched for the third year in a row with WRS, this year calling itself "the revolutionary block". The Warsaw demonstration, unlike the Wroclaw one, had some union delegations and the revolutionary block was joined part of the way by the teachers' union ZNP. The attempt to make a more pro-social demo however seems to have alientated many marches; the demonstration was less than half the size (perhaps a third of the size) of last year.

The march in Warsaw was also met by fascists of different sorts, notably the Falanga and all-Polish youth and the traditional exchange of curses with anarchists.

The following is part of the text of a critical leaflet handed out in Warsaw:

Solidarity in Stuggle? But for what and against what?

The slogan of this year's Manifa "In Solidarity in the Crisis, In Solidarity in the Struggle" is meant to be a clear reference to the labour strugle and an allusion to the history of the Women's Day march. As participants of this march who have each year come to the demonstration calling for women's greater participation in workplace organizing and anticapitalist social movements, it would seem we should be delighted that such a slogan would appear this year.

Unfortunately we are faced with a different reality when coming to the Manifa and that is that large parts of the dominant figures in the feminist movement are in fact in solidarity with the neoliberal project or reformist social democracy which in fact is just a dangerous distraction from the real struggle: the struggle for building a grassroots social and labour movement, independent of the bosses and politicians. Only such a movement can start to break free from their agenda and threaten to topple their power.

Besides holding the occasional one-off lecture at some university on "women's role in labour", we wonder what the mainstream of the women's movement has been doing to show working class women that they are in solidarity with them. Surely not continuing with insisting that neoliberal women like Henryka Bochniarz* are somehow in the same struggle as "women in general". The voices of feminists who claim no support for the neoliberal agenda are drowned by the chorus of moderate conformists who insist that women don't push such "divisive" issues as the class struggle.

(*head of a powerful business lobby and CEO of Boeing in Poland which sold F-16s to the government)

Another project which has been one of the main activities of the feminist movement, but is surely a diversion, is the call to introduce parity on electoral lists. At a time when working women are facing increasing hardship and need to organize effective, fighting social movements, the project of political parity is an astounding waste of reousces and activist time. We do not believe that gender determines the political line of women and the existence of powerful women in government or political life is no consolation to us. The fate of the Thatchers, Albrights and Rices of the world should be the same as the Berlusconis, Sarkozies and Obamas.

The political project of parity in Poland, at very best, can only guarantee us more HGWs, Anna Sobieskas and Nelly Rokitas, if not a string of female party hopefuls a la Aneta Krawczyk. (*)

(* HGW - hardline neoliberal President of Warsaw, Anna Sobieska - ultra-conservative parliamentarian, Nelly Rokita, parliamentarian who became famous as the wife of another politician, Aneta Krawczyk, women who wanted to run for political office and wound up sexually molested and raped by multiple party leaders for a few years.)

There is no getting around it: women are part of the oppressive system, even if to a lesser degree than men. If one recognizes the postulates of capitalism to be the main factor in the dire situation of working women, changing over from capitalist bastards to capitalist bitches is no progress. Selling it as so is just another liberal diversion to keep people from getting to the root of the problems or waging any struggle which may threaten what the system really must maintain: not the patriarchy, but capitalism and political power over the people.

Much as we are opposed to sexism in all its aspects, the patriarchy can be significantly topples and still leave the system of exploitation and slavery in tact. Fighting the patriarchy is simply not enough.

Although we can support goals to change the politics of single issues (for example, eliminating laws that interfer with women's reproductive choices), a women's movement which stops at any issue wich may not be to the liking of the bourgeois, statist or neoliberal feminists does not excite us. For this reason, we do not go to your "breakthrough congresses" dominated by elites, or vote for the "Women's Party" or stand on corners collecting signatures for parity, but call for women to be more active in the grassroots social revolutionary struggle.

For a world without bosses or masters, without bureaucrats or patriarchs.

Solidarity... in the class struggle.

Protest at Green Way Restaurant in Wroclaw

2010-03-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

March 6, members of ZSP protested at the Green Way Restaurant on Kuznica St. in Wroclaw. This is the place where we were contacted about violation of workers rights and went into a conflict with the management. A few former workers took part in this action.

People protested both inside and outside the restaurant, essentially blocking its business. ZSP demands, among other things, that the owners of the restaurant cease their threats of repression against A., who this week recently a letter from their lawyer threatening her with criminal charges that face up to 14 years in jail. (!) Green Way's lawyers claim that fighting for wages owed amounts to "blackmail" and also try to scare A. with other crimes. They also threaten to informed A.'s unversity of her alleged "anarchist activity".

ZSP is boycotting Green Way and asking that the owners stop violating workers rights by guaranteeing that no unpaid labour will be used, that workers will get contracts and be paid overtime and that a workers' inspection be allowed to check for compliance.

More about the case is here: www. greenway.zsp.net.pl

Click further for more photos.

14 years for Demanding Wages? Green Way Lawyer with no Scruples

2010-03-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

A new addition to the list of outrageous attempts to repress social movements is the Green Way case, where the lawyer for the restaurant, Anna Grzegorska, has written a threatening letter to our colleague A. A. refused to waive her right to get salary turning her training / trial period at the Wroclaw restaurant. In fact, even if she had waived it, it doesn't matter: such work should still be paid. A. demanded her salary for that period.

The lawyer for Greenway threatens to bring criminal charges against A., for "crimes" such as blackmail, posing a risk to business and slander. Together these crimes could carry as much as 14 years in jail.

Just to add insult to injury, Grzegorska informs that should A. not cease in her campaign to get her wages, her university will be informed of her "anarchist activity".

This would be a major threat of repression, with a pptential sentence similar to what the Belgrade Six were facing - if it weren't for the fact that there is absolutely no basis for this and it is just scare tactics. It is probably more likely that Grzegorska will face disciplinary proceedings for her breach of ethics than anything will happen to A.

Still, we take these threats very seriously.

These are the tactics that sleazy bosses are taking against workers who stand up to them.

How many people like this young Green Way employee try to stand up for themselves at the workplace, only to face lies and threats of serious repression?

The casual workforce in places like Green Way is often made up of young students and first time workers - often people desperately in need of money. They are often misinformed of their labour rights by thieving bosses who look for pliable and naive workers, often young girls, to obediently do as they are told without any questions. Standing up to this can carry a high price for the young workers: mobbing, loss of job or being cheated. In this case, Green Way's lawyer has no scruples about even threatening 14 years in jail. In such an atmosphere, we can only admire A.'s courage not to be broken by this: unfortunately, most people would have given up, too scared or discouraged to even ask for their salary.

Something now has got to change and if we have our way about it, it will be Green Way's treatment of their workers.

Warsaw: Picket at Greenway

2010-02-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

27 February ZSP held a picket in front of the busiest Green Way restaurant in Warsaw as part of boycott called against the restaurant. First people gave information about workers' rights and organization and about the problems in Greenway that led to the boycott. Then there was a picket outside this busy restaurant. The manager was upset about it and called to the director of the company to explain that their was a protest there. Although he claimed that there were no violations in his bar, it later turned out that workers there, as probably in most Green Way restaurants, are also not given statutory overtime payments.

The director of the company explained that unpaid work should not happen again in Green Way, but there is no information about how this is going to be stopped or about when people will receive their money for the time they worked for free. In addition, he claimed that the problem in Wroclaw was resolved, although we know that people haven't been paid.

We told the manager that the firm should aim to guarantee compliance with the labour law and good working conditions at the restaurants and that we will continue to make pressure on them until we know that things have really changed.

We also encouraged workers to organize themselves throughout the chain. There is already some interest, but such campaigns have not existed in this sector until now. Criticism about precarious work conditions and McJobs are not well known, the traditional labour movement does not really deal with this and there is no history of workers' self organization in these types of jobs. Still, this Green Way case has already brought the issue of unpaid trial periods to thousands of people who might not have known about it otherwise.

www.greenway.zsp.net.pl

Warsaw: Solidarity with the Belgrade 6!

2010-02-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

In Warsaw there were two solidarity actions for the Belgrade six in recent days: on February 16 there was a picket at the Serbian Embassy and February 25 there was a demonstration organized by ZSP and WRS as part of the International Solidarity Day called for by ASI.

The demonstration, although only about 30 people, was very visible and went a couple of hours through Warsaw, stopping at many places for speeches. The police did not manage to stop the demonstration, even after it blocked an important intersection. Besides words of solidarity for the Belgrade Six, there were lots of good anti-state and anti-capitalist slogans, and everytime the demo passed some objectionable place (like Starbucks), there were some additional slogans and speeches.

The demo attracted a lot of attention and curiosity and many leaflets about the case were handed out. Some of the people had heard about it before.

Green Way - No Way!

2010-02-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Making people work without contracts on unpaid trial periods, forced overtime and shit work conditions were exposed in Green Way vegetarian restaurants in at least 4 locations over the last couple of years.

During a recent picket of a Wroclaw restaurant where people were hired and worked illegally without pay, a former worker of the restaurant confronted the owner who simply lied and claimed the women had never worked there. Yesterday and today, a couple of workers and comrades visited Green Way to demand back pay and copies of contracts proving that they worked there. They were offered money under the table, but with no written contract or evidence of having worked there - so they refused, demanded a copy of a contract and went back today. Today the owners were more agressive, threatening to sue us if articles about them do not disappear off the internet within three days. Also, they showed on the computer some "statement" written by "satisfied workers" which presumably they will try to print to convince people that there is "no problem" in their restaurants.

The reaction of the overall management of the franchise has been both to paint this as an isolated incident (which it is not) but at the same time pretend that, since it is a franchise, they cannot control what goes on in the restaurants. This is not true since it the owners of the company pay close attention to details such as interior design of the restaurants, menu and location, making sure the franchise holders conform. The restaurant has not given any concrete sign about what they will do with the situation.

ZSP has declared a boycott on the restaurant, which does not even follow the labour law, let alone provide good conditions. It is boycotting the whole chain.

Last week it published the following statement:

According to our information we can say without any doubt that at the Green Way restaurant on Kuznica St. in Wroclaw, workers' rights were violated repeatedly. Everything indicates that the people running the restaurant think nothing about workers and just try to make as much profit off them as they can.

Since January at least 6 people worked in that restaurant for free. Taking into acount the scale of short-term hires and the fact that the place is always looking for new workers, we suppose that free labour is a constant source of profit for the owners. It is scandalous that they do not even try to present working conditions to their "employees". People who start off working for free do not know what kind of contract they might sign or even what salary they can expect. The bosses evb claim that setting a hourly rate is unneccessary and warn that salaries will be paid at the owners' discretion. Workers are also not entitled to get paid for work performed after closing time.

The free trial period is of an undetermined length, and people who go through this trial are told that the more hours they worked, the faster they will start to get paid. At first the free work is called "a trial period", then "training" and then they even can write a fake mandate contract for "working in the storeroom", written in one copy, with the warning that the amount of money written on it will not be paid.

One of the workers there was told that she cannot get a work contract because she didn't work full-time. However, this was not true and contradicts the law. It is illegal to work on a specific work contract since the work done is as an employee, with the work done on the premises, under the supervision of the owners. So this is just a way to deny workers their statutory benefits guaranteed under the Labour Law. We know cases where even such a contract is not signed when people started work.

In addition, during working hours, which sometimes last 11 hours, there is no break - also a violation and workers are often harrassed not to spend time resting, eating or drinking.

We would like to stress that even according to the law, which in no way sufficiently defends the interests of workers against the owners, a contract or a statement confirming the intent to hire somebody must be signed by the first day of work. This same law states that in this type of work it should be a work contract which guarantees not only an hourly wage, (with extra for overtime), but also paid vacation and sick leave.

Because this is not the first situation when he learned about violations of workers' rights in Green Way, we suppose that the board of the company cannot guarantee workers good conditions or is simply not interested in this. As a workers' organization, we cannot accept this. We are not interested in PR statements - we are interested in a concrete solution. We therefore demand that the board find an effective and permanent solution to the problem of exploitation in Green Way restaurants. This could be done, for example, by signing a annex to franchise agreements which would make it a breach of contract to violate workers' rights which would lead to dissolution of the franchise agreement. This would be a sign to us that Green Way cares about its clients eating ethically. If there is no resolution of this problem, we will call a boycott of Green Way.

Since this time we have heard nothing - except threats of being sued. So the boycott begins.

Delegation in Berlin

2010-02-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

A small delegation went to Berlin to show solidarity with FAU in their struggle against the state and the bosses at Kino Babylon Mitte.

A few hundred people marched during the award ceremonies at the Berlin Film Festival Berlinale. Speeches were made about the freedom to organize and people vowed to continue the struggle to ensure FAU's right to exist and take action as a union.

On the sign: "Only pigs sit in the cinema - Boycott Kino Babylon". The slogan about pigs is famous in Poland and refers to the boycott of nazi-run cinemas in occupied Poland.

Lecture / Discussion at Warsaw University

2010-02-19T23:52:00.000-08:00

March 11 at Warsaw University, ZSP Education will hold a lecture / discussion on the Bologna Process on the days of the ministerial celebrations and protests in Vienna and Budapest. More information (in Polish):

www.edukacja.zsp.net.pl

Boycott Green Way

2010-02-17T14:42:00.000-08:00

ZSP received the mail from the main shareholder of GreenWay corporation saying he is sorry about problems but with no committment to do anything and pretending this is isolated incident. ZSP is announcing that it is starting a boycott if GreenWay doesn't take concrete steps immediately. Wroclaw comrades made a picket during which a former employee confronted the boss about being cheated and the boss claimed she never even worked there. This shows disgusting attitude of capitalist exploiters.

Special material will be prepared for actions around Poland.

Walka Klas
www.zspwawa.blogspot.com

Protests in Solidarity with the Belgrade Six

2010-02-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

February 16, at the Serbian Embassy in Warsaw. ul. Rolna 175 A/B.

- also-

Thursday, February 25 as part of the IWA International Day of Action.
Start: 16:30 on Pl. Zamkowy in Warsaw.

www.belgradesolidarity.org

Another Informational Action - for Free and Libertarian Education

2010-02-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

Once again there was an informational action for free education, this time near Warsaw University. Since most students in near the university were weekend students, who have to pay for studies and often come from less priveleged backgrounds than day-time students who study for free, there was lots of interest and support for at least the idea of free studies.

ZSP Education will hold a lecture on the Bologna Process at Warsaw University on March 11. On this day there will be ministerial meetings commemorating ten years of the Process, accompanied by demonstrations in Budapest and Vienna.

Picket Against Exploitation at GreenWay Restaurant in Wroclaw

2010-02-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

Green Way vegetarian restaurant in Wroclaw uses illegal, unpaid labour. The restaurant on Kuznica St. makes people work for free for at least a week - people are told they have to have such a trial period. Such practices are strictly forbidden by law and is just a way for the restaurant to get free labour and increase its profits. If the people are then hired, they usually have really bad working conditions and don't last long.

This is not the first problem at Green Way - we know of problems in at least 3 other cities and we made a lot of noise about this a few years ago. We thought maybe the owners of the restaurant would get the message, but apparently not. So ZSP is going to be campaigning for them to change their ways.

Green Way is a large chain of vegetarian restaurants which wants to be the vegetarian McDonalds. It decided to become a corporation, wanted to sell shares, have 100 restaurants in Poland and open up chains in 10 different countries - but so far this endeavour has been a failure. But it still advertises itself as the largest chain of vegetarian restaurants in the world.

The Green altercapitalists at Green Way were made aware of the problems of free labour, forced overtime, etc. a couple of years ago. Then they claimed that, as a franchise, there was "not much they could do" to ensure that workers' rights were respected at their restaurants. It was suggested that a code be adopted and included as part of the franchise contract, with contractual penalties for bad labour practices. Green Way however only cares about profit and is more interested in the look and location of their restaurants than the staff. This does not however prevent them from trying to capitalize on promoting "fair trade" and marketing themselves as some sort of ethical business.

ZSP in Wroclaw has been contacting workers and carrying out an informational campaign. In general ZSP is trying to inform people of their rights at work and encouraging organizing in areas which are typically not organized. Exploitation is particularly prevalent in jobs dominated by students and the marginally employed, and among those people, unfortunately there is not always awareness of the problems. Or, people are desperate for any job.

On February 12, there was a picket at the Green Way on Kuznica St. One of the former employees of Green Way, who was not paid, asked the owner about her salary and she claimed that "you never worked here" and called the police on the demonstrators. Such a determination on the part of Green Way to continue such practices and such sleaziness will be met with our determination to change things. This is just the beginning, In the meanwhile, we are going to return to the slogan "Green Way - No Way" and encourage people to stay away from these restaurants. More actions are planned around Poland and a few former employees will be joining.

Informational action at Warsaw University

2010-02-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

Members of ZSP educational section made an informational action at Warsaw University. Leaflets were given out with information about the Bologna Process and against paid studies. There were also leaflets about the doctoral students protest in Wroclaw and booklets informing students about their rights at work. Since this action was made for weekend students, most of them work and students have many problems with working conditions.

There is such an action every week in Warsaw.

Doctoral Students Protests

2010-01-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

Members of ZSP in Warsaw are involved in the organization of doctoral students at Wroclaw University. The working conditions of the doctoral students are particularly bad. They are required to do teaching and research and receive a stipend which is even less than minimal wage. And in some of the humanities department, they don't even receive that.

The doctoral students are demanding a raise to the level of minimal wage. They do not currently receive the minimum because they are not considered "workers".

On Jan. 27, the students held a protest in front of Wroclaw University. Their demands were given to the University and published on their new internet page.

The students are considering an escalation in action, perhaps a strike, if their demands are not met.

ZSP has doctoral students in other cities and it is possible that this protest will spread.

Informational Actions Every Friday

2010-01-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

ZSP Educational Section is holding informational actions every Friday afternoon in front of educational institutions. Weekly meetings are being held at the Warsaw infoshop.

Besides information on the Bologna Process and agitation for free and libertarian education, ZSP calls for better working conditions for academic workers and support staff in schools and universities. It also is trying to increase consciousness amongst students, among other things, of their rights at work and problems of commerical education.

www.edukacja.zsp.net.pl
www.pragupe.blogspot.com

Protest in front of Russian Embassy on Anniversary of Killings in Moscow

2010-01-19T23:10:00.000-08:00

19 January in front of the Russian Embassy was held a picket to remmber Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova who were murdered one year ago in Russia. The picket also was a sign of solidarity for the antifascist movement in Russia.

The protestors reminded people about the many murders committed in recent years by neonazis on people who they consider "foreign" or "enemies" - like immigrants, lawyers and journalists who defend human rights and antifascists. Some speeches were made and candles with photos left in front of the Embassy.

Day of Solidarity Actions with FAU

2010-01-12T00:51:00.000-08:00

On January 11 pickets were held in front of the German Embassy in Warsaw and consulates in Wroclaw, Gdansk, Gliwice and Olsztyn in support of the anarchosyndicalist union FAU. Protests were also sent in or delivered in a couple of other cities.

The pickets were to protest the court decision which essentially bans FAU as a legal trade union. Messages of solidarity were read in front of the embassy and leaflets given out. Activists promised to continue protest if the situation does not change.

Many of the activists criticized the role of the state and ver.di which acted in this case as a yellow union. Part of a statement written by ZSP and WRS reads:

If the employers don't want to negotiate directly with the workers, then direct action is the only way left to put pressure on the boss. Workers can formulate their own demands without the consent of the bosses and union bureaucrats - and that is exactly want they will do when their rights are violated. Such bans can lead to a radicalization of workers who will not tolerate further repression.

The full text of the statement is here in Polish:
http://cia.bzzz.net/kiedy_prawo_nie_jest_po_stronie_pracownikow_walczymy_nawet_poza_prawem

In Wroclaw, embassy security did not want to let activists in to deliver a protest, nor did they even want to take it. After much insistance however, the activists received a confirmation of delivery. In Gdansk, a banner was hung on the consulate. In Olsztyn many leaflets were given out and passerbys expressed their support. In Warsaw there were radical speeches, singing of revolutionary songs and a visit to the Embassy residence where the diplomats live.

Besides ZSP, people from other groups took part, including WRS (Freedom, Equality and Solidarity), Anarchist Federation, Warmia Libertarian Library and Workers' Initiative.

Day of Solidarity Actions with FAU

2010-01-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

Protests in front of German Embassies and Consulates in Poland will be held January 11 in Wroclaw, Gdansk, Gliwice and Warsaw. Protest letters will also be delivered in other cities. The protests are against the legal repression of FAU-B.

Wroclaw Labour Self-Study Group: Temp and Permanent Work Contracts

2010-01-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Wroclaw ZSP has started a self-study group for people who want to know more about their labour rights. The first topic is about the different type of employment contracts.

Worst Employer of the Year Contest

2010-01-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

This month ZSP is taking information from workers about violation of workers' rights in connection with the second annual Worst Employer of the Year Contest.

During the upcoming month or two, we will be contacting people who sent in information. We will publish fragments of letters received but choose the "winner", who will get a special visit from us.

New Protest Campaign

2009-12-28T11:34:00.000-08:00

FAU has set up a page where you can send protests to the Foreign Office in Berlin.

Click on the image to the left to get to the form.

As of writing, 1650 e-mails have been sent to Kino Babylon from the FAU Solidarity page www.fau.zsp.net.pl.

This week we will change the recipient of the protest mails; Babylon already knows what we think!

Solidarity and best wishes to the cinema workers in the upcoming year!

FAU Solidarity Page - Send a Protest!

2009-12-21T02:09:00.000-08:00

ZSP supports the right to form and be a union, regardless of the courts' and capitalists' wishes. One small form of solidarity everybody can do is send the protest fax or e-mail. ZSP tries to help with this making online email campaign. You can send protest now to director of Babylon Cinema. Soon we will make the other e-mails you can send to the court or union Ver.di. Information about case is in different languages. Send an email and show solidarity today!

www.fau.zsp.net.pl

Education Workers Meet

2009-12-20T05:33:00.000-08:00

Members of ZSP involved in its education Education Workers' Union are organizing a series of meetings for January. In one university, a meeting of graduate teaching assistants was held. The teaching assistants complain about the work conditions and the fact that they often receive unpaid work, get the worst hours and are dealing with more and more uncertain conditions in the university. The assistants would like to present a list of demands to the university, however only a small percentage of them already support taking action. There was even talk of a strike, but they are afraid that the other assistants will merely act as strike breakers and cover their hours. So currently they are trying to get more support from co-workers.

ZSP Condemns Attack Against FAU

2009-12-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

ZSP expresses solidarity with comrades from FAU in Germany. On December 11, the union was essentially banned from operating as a union by the Berlin Regional Court. This was the result of a labor conflict at Babylon Cinema in Berlin that went beyond limiting the union's rights in Babylon.

Although the Babylon cinema is government funded, pay and employment conditions have been bad. A large portion of the cinema’s staff organized themselves within the FAU.

When the pressure was at its height and the bosses could no longer
avoid entering negotiations, not only did politicians from the left (Die Linke) intervene but also ver.di union took up negotiations with the bosses - even though they had almost no members among the cinema’s staff and no mandate from them! The workers were excluded from negotiations.

Babylon, the leftists and ver.di entered a deal and tried to stop the campaign of FAU. FAU had organized a boycott. Babylon got the boycott banned, and questioned FAU's status as a union.

ZSP condemns these actions to stop workers' self-organization and limit it within legal framework set up by the capitalist sate. We send solidarity to workers of Babylon Cinema and to FAU. We ask people of good conscience to boycott this cinema, and to send protests supporting FAU and Babylon workers.

Send protest to: Timothy Grossman, Director of Cinema
grossman@babylonberlin.de

ver.di Berlin
bz.berlin@verdi.de

ZSP Joins the IWA

2009-12-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

On Dec. 4-6 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the 24th Congress of the International Workers' Association took place. ZSP became the newest section of the IWA. This is the first time a section from Poland has been represented in the International.