Solidarity trade unionists armed with voovoozelas, Monday in warsaw. photo; Pawel Kula/PAP

Several thousand Solidarity trade unionists staged a picket in front of the Wilanow Palace in Warsaw, Monday, where a Weimar Triangle summit (Poland, France, Germany} is being held between President Komorowski, Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy.

The protest action was held in demonstration against further French investments into Polish state owned energy companies.

Taking advantage of the presence of the French head of state Nicolas Sarkozy in Poland for a meeting of the Weimar Triangle , the unionists  are against  the planned privatisation of the Polish energy sector, where the French GDF Suez and EdF energy groups aim to purchase shares in the state-owned Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), Poland’s largest power company.

Head of the Solidarity trade union’s energy department Kazimierz Grajcarek said that the protesters will hand in a petition to President Sarkozy asking him to reconsider his plans.

Grajcarek added that  “French companies abuse labour  and union legislation and when they overtake a company their first step is to sack personnel.”

The protest was staged by unionists from the energy companies in Szczecin, Poznan, Polaniec and Rybnik. (ab)