Several thousand Solidarity trade union members will demand government bailout of the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards in a National Day of Protest today.“Participants in the four-hour long protest will attempt to file petitions with policy makers in the Economics Ministry and at the Council of Minister's Offices,” says Janusz Sniadek, head of the action, coordinated by the National 'Solidarity' Commission.
Sniadek, at a press conference in Gdansk on Monday, added that: “Each demonstration raises the question – will this be effective and how? Again, we have been fed information that it is not bad, that the financial crisis is ending and there is a green light in front of us. But, this information from the government completely does not match up with the reality in which we live.”
The Solidarity-led protest is meant to draw attention to the worsening plight of Poland's shipyards – which going through a failing privatization process – as well as demand support of the country's arms industry, on the verge of bankruptcy due to large cuts in military spending.
Leader of Gdansk's Regional Solidarity branch, Krzysztof Dosla, says that protesters are demanding that the government include a clause which will allow for one year's worth of financial assistance for those made redundant in the shipyards in compensation regulations.
Additionally, protesters are seeking aid from the European Union in the form of 'globalization funds' which, according to Dosla, are paid out in cases where over 500 people are being fired from their place of employment. The fund stipulates that the national government provide 35 percent of the money paid to workers, while the EU covers the remaining 65 percent.
Several hundred workers are expected in Warsaw today – and not only from the Baltic seaside area, but also from southern Poland where the majority of the arms industry is located. The protest is planned for 11:45 today on the capital's Plac Trzech Krzyzy (Three Crosses Square), will continue to the Prime Minister's Chancellery, and will finish at 16:00.
(mmj)