Representatives of the All Poland Trade Union Agreement (OPZZ) and Solidarity are holding a demonstration in Warsaw today, demanding better pay and protection of jobs.
Held under the motto “NO for budget cuts, YES for job security and economic growth” the protest is part of an international action by the European Trade Union Confederation.
Similar protests have been organized today in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Lithuania, Latvia and Cyprus. Trade union delegations from 14 EU countries have also arrived in Brussels.
Deputy chairman of OPZZ, Andrzej Radzikowski, said the Wednesday march in the capital comes in a series of protests staged in September in which various trade unions voiced strong dissatisfaction with government announced austerity measures.
Radzikowski stressed the unions cannot give their consent to a successive annual budget being detrimental to the interests of working people and the average citizen.
The trade unionists are protesting against repeated attempts to raise retirement age, a slower than envisaged minimal wage growth and plans of freezing income thresholds entitling to social assistance. (ss)