Chinese Workers Going Home

After the picket at JW Construction, we saw off the Chinese workers. They cleared up the camp at the embassy after the work agencies came to some sort of an agreement. They will be leaving for China starting tomorrow and were moved to workers' hotels. They received tickets home and will receive some money for their labour- but it is not clear if they will receive the full amount. The workers wanted to even take that deal because they are tired of staying in Warsaw and are very nervous that they will get nothing. They were particularly upset the last few days since there thunderstorms in the city and really were quite fed up and just wanted to get home.
We asked some of the people what they would do when they got home. Many, if not most, were so fed up with their adventure that they said they would give up on construction work and go back to what they were doing before; for many of them that was farming.

We are hoping that everything will go OK for them and will try to follow up on this case.
Read more!

Leaflet from JW Construction Picket

Given out at the sales office:

Was Your Flat a Labour Camp?

Probably you always thought that slave labour, work without any basic safety equipment, leaving people without any money to live happens only in other far-away countries. Thanks to JW Construction, you can also find such things in Poland.

Do you know how JW Construction maintains record profits during the crisis?

A group of about 50 workers from China who worked building housing estates for JW Construction in Warsaw were not paid for their work. When the workers reminded the bosses of their rights, they were fired and the bosses applied to annul their visas and ordered them to leave Poland. They have been camping out in front of the Chinese Embassy, demanding the pay they are due.

JW Construction washes its hands of such matters, claiming that the work agencies, Polish firm V-Agra and a few Chinese firms like Heyley, are at fault. All of the agents blame each other, all claiming that it was somebody else who did not fulfill their obligations.

Something is not right gere.

In order to make higher profits, JW Construction started to hire temporary workers from China, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and other countries, counting on the fact that they would earn a lot less and that they would not know how to protect their rights. A complicated chain of agents means that the workers don't even know who owes them money. That's an ideal situation for dishonest employers who hope that they can get away with not paying their workers.

But they won't get away with it.

They won't get awat with if it people don't buy flats which were built in violation of safety regulations, if they won't buy from firms which don't care if the workers are paid or not, if they are insured or have proper equipment.

Nobody wants their dream home to be in a former labour camp.

We demand that JW Construction ensure that all workers recent a decent wage and safe working conditions. We demand that all workers that haven't been paid, be paid immediately.

No tolerance for slave labour!

Związek Syndykalistów Polski

Read more!

Picket at JW Construction

ZSP organized a picket at the JW Construction sales office at the Gorczewska Park housing estate. Chinese workers who were not paid and wound up camping in front of the Chinese embassy worked on this, as well as other housing estates built by JW Construction.

Members of several pro-worker groups joined in the picket.

During the picket, several times cars with potential customers drove up but then turned away.

The protestors pointed out that JW has recorded very high profits despite the recession. Since the company has gone public two years ago, it has been using almost exclusively foreign labour hired through employment agencies. Since technically they are not the employers of the workers, they try to avoid responsibility for what goes on at their construction sites: people not getting paid, lack of proper safety equipment, people working without insurance, people working without the proper safety training, people working overtime and without proper breaks, people working without proper food or drink. But we were there to remind them that they are responsible and to ask potential home buyers if they want to live in a former work camp.

ZSP activists promised to return to different sales offices and continue to put pressure on JW.

More photos
Read more!

On the Clashes in Warsaw

On July 21 there were rather serious clashes between a group of traders about to be evicted, their supporters and police and security guards. The events caused a lot of discussion amongst anarchists and leftists about, among other things, the class character of the trader.

Here are some thoughts on the subject and a little background on the situation. Read more!

Chinese Workers Face Deportation from Poland

About 50 Chinese workers are camped out in front of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw. They did not receive any pay for three months, eventually went on strike and were fired.

The situation of the approx. 50 workers camped out in front of the Chinese Embassy is not unique. There are at least 400 others in a similar situation.

The workers were recruited in Eastern China to work in construction in Warsaw. This group of workers came from three agencies: Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Heyly Overseas Employment and an agent called Lin Baotang. They each borrowed money and paid about 1500 dollars to the agents and for airfare. They had 2 year contracts with their Chinese agents and were promised 700 euro plus room and board for 250 hours labour per month.

They were hired out to two shady companies, both with the same owners: Eko-Energia and V-Agra. It is clear that V-Agra was the real employer-user of the workers. The companies did not want to provide the workers with any local contracts.

V-Agra is a subcontracter for several real estate development firms. The workers were taken to different building sites to work on residential housing. From what we were able to establish, this work was not always done in safe conditions. The workers, who were transported to these sites, were not readily able to identify all the places they worked, but with some effort we managed to identify at least 2 housing estates they worked at.

They did not receive any money for 3 months and were living off food supplies they had brought from China. Finally, they went on strike. For that, the company V-Agra fired them.

We obtained a copy of their notice:

"In connection with a violation of work discipline, refusing to carry out work duties and organizing an illegal strike, as well as some workers taking up illegal work in Poland, and in connection with the companies Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong failure to pay for the costs of the hotel and supply a return ticket to China, we inform you that as of June 18, that is the day that you did not appear at work, all obligations towards the employees of Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong have ceased.

In connection with the above, we call on all the employees of Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong to leave Poland by July 12, 2009.

We also inform you that from that day employees of Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong have no right to lodging in the workers' hotel in Ursus or to stay in Poland.

In the event that you do not leave Poland by the above-mentioned date, we will inform the Border Guards, which will start your deportation procedure.

In all cases of payment, accomodation and return tickets, please contact your employers - that is Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong - directly.

We inform you that our company has annulled all permission to work in Poland and Polish visas. Staying in Poland and working is illegal and will be punished according to Polish law.

We also inform you that leaving for another EU country will be considered illegally crossing the border and is subject to penalty.

Anna Chilkiewicz,
Chairperson of the Board"

Other Chinese workers who came to work in Warsaw had to pay much more to get here. A few months ago, some of the Chinese workers left Warsaw to try and find employment elsewhere in Poland. A group of workers were sent to the company Eurochin in Katowice were they were also used as slave labour, among other things, to build a Pentacostal church. (The owner of the work agency is a former pastor.) The owner of Eurochin did not pay them and, when they tried to talk to him about it, he called the police and got protection from the workers who were "threatening him". They wound up squatting a house in Myslowice. After an idiot journalist revealed the address of the house, the border police went their and took them into detention for deportation.

There are many Chinese workers now illegally living in Poland, looking for illegal work to survive and eventually get back to China. There they may face problems with debts. Apparently one of the Chinese workers who returned home was imprisoned for his debts.

The group in front of the embassy showed up over 3 weeks ago asking for help - but they got none. So some of them tried to find some work. A couple of days ago, they started to camp out in front of the embassy. They don't have tents and have made makeshift shelters from sticks, garbage bags and plastic.

Camping rough has been difficult; today one person felt faint and had to be hospitalized. The Red Cross came with some supplies, as did ZSP who prepared them some dinner. Some people from the neighbourhood stopped by with provisions.

Members of ZSP, who were able to communicate with the workers and find out some key details about their case, plan to give hell to V-Agra and the companies using these workers, as well as to the authorities who know that these things are happening but do nothing to make sure that these people have proper working conditions and are getting paid.

Read more!

Article on Works Councils

Here is an article on Works Councils by Comrade Akai:
http://cia.bzzz.net/work_councils_pacifiers_of_the_workers Read more!

Eviction Stopped

On 15 July the Tenants' Defense Committee showed up to block an eviction. We learned about the situation of the tenants a few days ago. They live in flats owned by the fire department which are going to be renovated. The fire department tried to get rid of all tenants by cutting off heat in the winter and cutting off water. Only three people (in two flats) refused to leave.

The situation was very difficult. One woman is still employed at the fire department and is being mobbed at work where they were trying to force her to move from her 70 meter flat in the center, to a 7 meter "flat" outside Warsaw. What the fire department is doing is TOTALLY ILLEGAL.

After our intervention, the people were allowed back in their apartments. Read more!

Tenants' Protests at City Council and Praga Local Council

Tenants protested today at the City Council, helping totally disrupt the meeting which was protested by other social groups as well. Tenants brought baloons with the names of the council people who voted for rent increases. They flew around the room and some councilmen chased them and tried to take off their names. The meeting resulted in some small gains for the tenants. One of them is that people from reprivatized apartments can go to the front of the waiting lists. Currently they can only go on waiting lists for public housing after they have been evicted, and then they are at the end.

In Praga, local politicians made an emergency session to address tenants. It was made especially due to the activity of the Tenants' Defence Committee, which some members of ZSP participate in. The councilpeople voted on making special reductions on rent for people in the district - but it lost by two votes when the leftists from SLD voted against, telling the tenants, literally, to "fuck off". Read more!

New Bulletin

Issue 10 of the bulletin is available:

warszawa@zsp.net.pl Read more!

Protest at the Iranian Embassy

ZSP took part in the international day in solidarity with repressed unionists in Iran. We made an exhibition about the unionists and displayed it outside the embassy.

Amnesty International also decided to hold a picket at the same time, although more generally against repression - not particularly about the unionists. From the left side there were also members of Workers' Democracy.

For more information about what is going on with unionists in Iran, see:
www.justiceforiranianworkers.org Read more!

Press Conference on Housing Question

June 25, members of the Warsaw Tenants' Association and the Tenant's Defense Committee (in which some members of ZSP take part), held a joint press conference on the Housing question, recent events and planned policy of the City of Warsaw.

Much of the press are ostentatiously boycotting the issue. However we did manage to get some press and radio coverage and get interest for an investigative report.

Among the various points of the conference where the following posulates:

- that there should be civic control over public housing expenditure
- that more resources be allocated to public housing and the income levels be raised to qualify
- that people should be allowed to live in abandoned buildings

There were also many criticisms of various practices and policies. (Perhaps a report should follow.)

The activists stated that they will take more radical action in the near future and will take all measures possible to block evictions or to find vacant housing for those who were evicted. Read more!

Warsaw - Capital of Homelessness 2010

June 24 the Tenants' Defense Committee and the Warsaw Tenants' Association held a demonstration under the City Hall against the city's housing policy. The demo was a response to the city's continued attack on tenants which included a recent rent hike of 200-300% and taking the topic of the city's new housing policy of the agenda of the last city council meeting where members of the two organizations were to speak.

The amount of public housing available in the city is becoming smaller and smaller due to reprivatization of public housing and letting many houses fall into such a state of disrepair that they literally start falling down on the tenants. At the same time, the demand for public housing is growing. The ideologues of the ruling party believe that people should be able to find housing on the private market, but they seem oblivious to the fact that housing costs more than in many European cities and the overwhelming majority of people have neither the creditworthiness to buy a flat, nor enough money to rent one at the exorbitant rates charged by local landlords. As a result of property speculation and gentrification, many are driven out of the city and into the suburbs or nearby towns for lack of any affordable housing options.

At the same time, many politicians have been able to buy up property owned by the city, state or former state-owned enterprises at a fraction of their value.

The City is always trying to raise its prestige by blowing money on lavish events like European Congresses, Euro 2012 or whatever and is also trying to get elected to different titles such as the European City of Culture. The city is trying to gentrify the whole downtown and fill it with ritzy shops and cafes that few can afford and to convince the world that it is a rich city. But we say that Warsaw will probably become the European Capital of Homelessness by next years since evictions are bound to increase and people have nowhere to go.

We think that, in order to prove this point, there should be a homeless city set up outside City Hall. Unfortunately there have been violent thunderstorms in town, so we couldn't even stay one night this time - although at least a couple of symbolic housing structures were set up. We also agreed that the President of the City needs to get a certificate honouring the city as the Capital of Homelessness and we vowed to deliver it to her and make sure it is on the walls of City Hall.

Tomorrow is a press conference of the two organizations on the problem and what we are demanding. Demands of the organizations include stopping reprivatization as long as the city does not have housing available for all people who will be displaced and who are already waiting for housing, cancelling the rent increase and civic control over public housing expenditures.

Some photos are here:
http://cia.bzzz.net/warszawa_stolica_bezdomnosci_2010
Read more!

Bologna Process Information Events

Members of ZSP went leafleting at various events 19-20 June. June 19 was the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Bologna Declration. The leafleting event was meant to interest people in the Process and get exposed to an alternative point of view. Quite of number of people went to the anti-Bologna pages on the leaflets those days, so we believe that it was rather informative. Unfortunately there isn't much student activism in Warsaw but we did run into people who had read about the conference we did and knew about activities around Poland, so the word is getting out. Read more!

Tenants' Protest at City Council

Members of the Tenants' Defense Committee and Warsaw Tenants' Association were to speak at the City Council meeting June 18. The city is about to adopt a new resolution on public housing and there is much to criticize in it as there are many points not beneficial for tenants. Last month tenants protested at the meeting and the Council had promised to deal with these questions during the next session.

Members of ZSP of course know that the promise of a politician means nothing and that the most important thing is creating grassroots movements. If these movements are strong enough, they can possibly win some reforms or concessions on the political level and, although we are generally critical of reformist politics, in the case of such real issues as whether people will be homeless of not, we can support making pressure on the politicians for such reform. But we have no illusions about what the politicians are capable of.

Tenants were not allowed to speak at the City Council this time; the point was taken off the agenda. The politicians had a convenient pretext: some other groups showed up to protest at the City Council and the place turned into something of a circus with a couple of hundred protestors trying to get in. They closed off the entrance to the meeting room, but many of the tenants were in the room. In the end, the Council decided that they would talk about the issue of real estate development in a city park - but not about the housing issue. The tenants were furious. There was about 15 minutes of yelling, protesting, etc.

Tenants decided on making more protests in the upcoming week at a response to this treatment. We proposed that a homeless city be set up in Warsaw in the near future. Read more!

ZSP Statement on the Educational Strike in Germany and the Bologna Process

ZSP supports the Educational Strike in Germany taking place from June 15-19 and is planning an information action on June 19 on the 10th anniversary of the Signing of the Bologna Declaration. Our support for the struggle against the commercialization of education doesn't mean though that we support the preservation of educational institutions as they exist now.

The Educational Strike in Germany is ony one of many action against changes in the financing of education and other sectors. Protestors are against changes which put profit above people and which restrict access to education, making it even more limited to the already priveleged parts of society. Introducing commerical aspects to education adjusts it to the needs of capital, but not to the needs of students.

People are also protesting against the tendency of the state to reallocate public funds meant for a wide group of society. These changes will also have a negative effect on the working conditions of teachers, doctoral candidates, professors and other scholars and educational workers. Many of them may find themselves on the edge of precarious employment a some will lose their jobs.

We support the struggles of students and teachers who do not support systematic changes which would cause the gap between the rich and poor to increase. The growing barrier betwen them will increase the structural causes of poverty and declining living conditions of many working people, including educational workers.

Many of the changes introduced throughout Europe in the field of education are concentrated arond the vision drawn by the initiators of the Bologna Process. Although we are against the assumptions of this Process, we do not believe that the Process itself is the main cause of the problems. The deeper roots of the problem are connected with capitalism and the role of education as a tool to create elites and mould individuals in accordance with the values of the class society.

We do not agree with some of the social-democratic positions which are often stated by some opponents of the commercialization of education. Among these are that "education should be run by the state" or "the university must be maintained in its current form". As in many other fields of life, it could be that maintaining the current system is better than that future which the neoliberals have prepared for us. That doesn't mean however that we are in favour of supporting the status quo. The university already is a tool for creating elites, hierarchy and conformism. The poor's access to education is often fictional. Educational institutions are a tool of social indoctrination.

For us, education is rather a constant process than an institution. Education does not have to be connected to diplomas, careers and the needs of the labour market. Our vision is education open for all - but really for all, not just for a small group of people who can afford it and for fit into the conformist model of hierarchy and marks. The model of education we want is based above all on cooperation, on sharing knowledge according to libertarian principles.

We call on all proponents of libertarian education to take part in the protests and to use the occasion to open discussion on models of education which do beyond both the neoliberal and social-democratic framework.

Union of Syndicalists (Poland)
June 15, 2009 Read more!