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.

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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/ Read more!

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! Read more!

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 Read more!

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. Read more!

Picket at Start People

ZSP again took part in the International Day of Actions at the Start People temporary work agency. The action is in solidarity with our comrade from CNT-AIT Zaragoza and with all workers struggling against precarious employment conditions.

Last November, Start People tried to change the contractual conditions of a group of people working in Qualytel. Our comrade who refused to accept worse conditions did not have her contract renewed. Although the court later ruled that she was essentially dismissed illegally, and although the court found an illegal transfer of workers, she was not reinstated in her job.

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Start People: Stop Exploitation!

 

They say we are in crisis time, but bankers, traders, CEOs and many others continue to receive incredible incomes.

Meanwhile, living conditions of workers and unemployed, etc.., are increasingly deteriorating. Precarious workers are particularly affected by the rising of unemployment. So temporary work agencies take advantage of an exploitable labor, that is forced to accept the conditions set by employers, to avoid the risk of no longer being proposed for new missions and fearing of being repressed by the JobAgency (which is closer to a police station than anything).

Some workers reject this logic. So it is precisely because she has refused her
inhuman conditions that a militant of the CNT-AIT Zaragoza (Spain) Union, who
was employee of STARTPEOPLE, has been fired illegally. Indeed, in November 2009, workers of the said temporary work agency received a letter challenging the previous labor contracts and degrading working conditions, under threat
of being fired or not renewed.

In STARTPEOPLE, fight against the degradation of working conditions is grounds for dismissal. Several sections of the IWA (International Workers Association ) were mobilized across Europe in April to show their support to the Zaragoza CNT-AIT struggle.

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Unsuccessful Scare Tactics

Lawyers for the firm Turret Development are trying, unsuccessfully, to scare off ZSP and dissuade them from their campaign to get plane tickets back to China for 21 stranded workers who are stuck in Warsaw without money or a valid work permit.

The workers were employed on the Wola Tower construction site. Turret's lawyers are trying to convince people that they bear no respsonsibility whatsoever for what went on with these workers. They claim (despite  what is written on their own webpages) they have nothing to do with Wola Tower and that the investor is a company called "Massandra" and that subcontractors are at fault.

It should be noted that "Massandra" is actually part of the Turret group, with the same Chairman of the Board, same registered headquarters and office, etc. etc. The same capital group runs various interconnected companies and, in cases like this, tries to shift responsibility onto other entities.

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TV Appearance about Temporary Work Abroad

A member of ZSP Warsaw appeared on television to give advice to workers, particularly to students, who are about to go to work abroad this summer. Viewers were warned about common problems temporary workers face, about what to look out for in their contracts and what to do if they encounter problems at work abroad. The program lasted almost a half hour. Read more!

ZSP Demands Plane Tickets for Stranded Workers

ZSP has started a campaign to help get plane tickets bought for 21 Chinese workers who are stranded in Warsaw and have no money to get home. All of them are in a precarious situation: they have little money and face deportation. They are camped on the lawn of the Chinese Embassy in extremely bad conditions.

The people worked on the Wola Tower construction site in Warsaw. ZSP is asking the firms involved to pay for tickets back to China. 

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Boycott Elections

ZSP calls again for boycott of elections. We don't need and don't want any president or any government! We call on people to instead build the militant grassroots organizations to fight against exploitation and government and take popular control!

18 June was action at  Metro Centrum in Warsaw.  Boycott elections actions are always popular with people who see no politicians who represent their interests. We try to send message that it is not lack of good politicians which is the problem, but nature of government.

20 June is elections and 19 June we have so-called "election silence" but there is tradition in Warsaw to go out on day of election and day before to agitate. Already electoral commission made decision that boycott campaign does not fit into laws against election silence.

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Picket at H&M

18 June was a picket in the center of Warsaw at HM. The picket was related to two cases of violating workers' rights. The first was in relation to the horrible tragedy at the Garib garment factory in Bangladesh, On February 25, 22 workers were killed in a fire. The workers were locked in the factory and could not escape; on top of that, there were numerous safety violations. The National Garment Workers Federation is calling for compensation for the families of the victims and better safety standards at the factory.

More information:
http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent-actions/garib-fire-survivors-call-for-justice-and-a-safe-industry

The second has to do with the case of Diego, a worker in a Madrid shop who was forced to sign his own resignation against his will. The CNT is demanding he be reinstated to his job and will not tolerate such intimidation of workers. Several pickets have been held in Spain about this case and the CNT called for international actions.

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Chinese Construction Workers Again Stranded in Warsaw

A group of 21 Chinese construction workers have ended up camped outside the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw. They have no money to return home and are waiting for help.

The workers were hired by a company called Turret Development. Turret Development is owned by American businessman Michael Alter, president of the Alter Group, one of the ten largest commercial real estate developers in the United States. Alter has been investing in real estate in Poland and using cheap Asian labour for this work.

Currently we are investigating the situation with these workers. One thing is clear: they were hired by Turret Development to work on the Wola Tower construction site. After that, they were sent by Turret to work in Lodz and in Olawa.

Read more!

Support for Action at the Ministry of (In)Justice

Members of ZSP and KOL have been supporting an action at the Ministry of (In)Justice in Warsaw and calling for more people to take part. It all started when a colleague of ours had some trouble with corrupt local politicians and decided to try and protest but was arrested and treated appallingly. A few groups raised the alarm on this situation. The guy, luckily, managed to also tape record a conversation with one of the local politicians who was corrupt and this became a political scandal; his immediate dismissal was demanded. 

On Monday we went with our colleague to the Ministry of (In)Justice, where he decided to chain himself to the fence and stay there. Since that time, other victims of political corruption and injustice have come with their tents and their chains and a small tent city is springing up. We are calling for other victims of judicial injustice to come and support this protest and for people to come by and protect these people from potential police brutality.

After working hours, quite a lot of people stopped by to show their support. We heard that in the next days, some more people will be coming and setting up their tents.

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Antiwar Demo

As usual, members of ZSP showed up at the local anti-war demo with anarchist slogans such as "No War between Nations, No Peace between Classes".

About 100 people came out to protest Poland's involvement in Afganistan and Iraq. Although this is (unfortunately) normal for a Warsaw demo, it is a terrible turnout considering that opinion polls have shown that 80% of the Polish public are against the war.

We call not only for the immediate withdrawal of troops, but the complete liquidation of the Polish (and all other) national armies. Read more!