On
April 21, ZSP held a picket at an Empik store in Warsaw against working
conditions in the chain and in support of workers who are organizing
and beginning to take some actions. Empik is a huge chain of bookshops
and for the last three years we have been in contact with workers from
around the country. The initial contact was made through the Worst
Employer of the Year contest. Every year we get dozens of complaints
about them and last year they received 3rd place, for which they
threatened to sue us. But that just caused more workers to send us
evidence, with which we helped them to organize complaints and now some
legal cases. Furthermore, we have heard that some employees have started
to engage in various acts of sabotage as some sort of revenge.
Well, it is better to get organized!
This year, we gave Empik the first place, because of the sheer amount
of complaints against them. Among the most common were unpaid overtime
without work evidence, workers being forced to do other, additional jobs
like moving heavy stacks of books, not having sick days and being
threatened with dismissal if ill, mobbing, lack of fire safety measures
and liquidation of employee social funds. We also know some cases of
improper dismissals and there were workers who claim that they had to
attest that they were not members of unions. We will follow with a
series of informational actions and continue supporting the workers who
want to take action, encouraging them to organize.
