Action at Aerobud

The Ukrainian firm Aerobud, which was a subcontractor on a building site in Leszno, did not pay its workers, leading them to down their tools. As it turns out, the people did not even have a written contract and may have problems receiving their pay. Aerobud subsequently decided to hire new people. ZSP was informed of this situation and asked for some help. It decided to take action against Aerobud to inform prospective workers of their practices and to demand that they pay the workers and ensure people work in legal, safe and decent conditions.

There was a visit to their office in Warsaw and information that things will be done in Ukraine. Already warnings have gone out on the internet in that country and soon their with be leafletting and other actions addressed towards the workers. We do not rule out other forms of actions.

Action in Carrefour

On July 24 there was a protest in a Carrefour supermarket in Warsaw against the humiliating treatment of workers imposed by tbe management. The protest was directly related to the introduction of the "red dot" system where employees have to stand on red dots in the middle of the crowded market to speak to their managers. It came out that workers even had to stand there if they wanted to take a toilet break.

Workers protested that this was ridiculous since sometimes that even had to wait 5-10 minutes for a supervisor to come and give them permission to leave their work station for a toilet break. This time to get permission is a lot longer than just going to the toilet, so it actually makes the break much longer. However, if an employee goes without permission, s/he could be fired. The workers feel this is done especially to discourage them from asking for breaks.

Euro Pride in Warsaw

by Pantera

This year the Euro Pride parade took place in Warsaw. Poland is a country with an overinfluential Catholic church and homophobia is common. Most homosexuals are still "in the closet" in public life, for example in workplace. There can take place mobbing or discrimination - which is hard to prove and causes distress. So the people stay silent.

Again, a big part of Polish society do not accept gay parades or any public exhibition of another sexuality or other values than traditional, heterosexual family. The most aggressive of these are "real Catholics" and "real patriots" who are so fearing the difference that they make physical attacks on parade. Again this year, eggs, bottles and other objects thrown. Counterdemonstrations all over city.

Spot the Red Dots

Members of ZSP are engaged in an action against "red dots" which have been set up in Carrefour supermarkets throughout Poland. The red dots are on the floor in central places in the supermarket and workers are supposed to go stand there if they have to talk to a supervisor. As it turns out, they are also supposed to stand there if they want a toilet break. The absurdity is that, if they were just to go to the toilet, it would probably take a couple of minutes; workers have found that they have to stand 5-10 minutes on the red dot before a supervisor approaches to ask to go to the toilet. If they do not get this permission, it is said that they took an unauthorized break from work. For such "unauthorized absences" from your workplace, you can even get fired.


We are leaving subversive messages on these red dots for all to see and  encouraging workers to take  action against this absurd and humiliating system.  With leafets to the customers, we encourage people to send their opinions to Carrefour management through their website. 

http://www.carrefour.pl/page/pl/tanie-promocje/kontakt/twoje-sugestie/

Discussion in Bratislava

On July 9 there was a discussion in Bratislava with members of our sister organization, Direct Action. A few experiences and lessons from ZSP campaigns were examined and discussed with a few towards developing better practice. We are hoping that we will also see members of Direct Action here in Warsaw soon!

Alternative Social Forum in Warsaw

ZSP Warsaw will organize an Alternative Social Forum at the end of October, to coincide with the Polish Social Forum.  We invite comrades, especially from neighbouring regions, to attend. We are hoping to organize more concrete information about the event in September. For now, a preliminary list of topics may be found here:  



http://forumspoleczne.blogspot.com

Situation of Stranded Chinese Workers

After a week of camping in the rain, the construction workers from China who are looking for help getting home decided to abandon their protest. After this, they unfortunately decided not to return and to try and work ("illegally") for some while.


ZSP decided to continue its pressure on Turret Development with leafletting and other means. Turret still claims that it has no formal relationship with these workers and has not made efforts to help.


One state agency has become investigating the situation.


At this point we are waiting for further developments to know what to do.