For almost six weeks, management refused to negotiate with its colleagues at the Jeremias plant in Giezno. While the Wassertrüdingen site was pretending to be all sunshine and roses with a family celebration, the company was not ashamed to use prisoners to break the strike, hired an American law firm known for its anti-union practices, fired union members and labour inspectors, and declared the union’s demands and the strike illegal. The company ignored local court rulings, labor inspections, and the opinions of the Polish Ministry of Labor.

Ultimately, all of this was of no use to management: On Monday, the employees were able to successfully end the dispute, which was being held with the support of the IP, with a good result!

• 700 PLN(164,90 EUR) payraise instead of the 800 PLN demanded
• a 20 Minuten payed break of the originaly 30 min one, was able to be negotiated
• all Saturdays except one per month are recorded as overtime and not as unpaid as before

It turns out, fighting is worth it! And yet there’s still plenty of work to do in the future for our Polish colleagues!

And Wassertrüdingen?

Marcin Mróz, Managing Director and Board Member of Jeremias in Gniezno, is already laying the basis: „We are waiting for the trend to reverse, for the market to recover, and for us to be able to recoup the losses we have suffered.“ This sounds bad for all locations. It’s no coincidence that there is a large number of temporary and contract workers here, especially from Poland. Their jobs can be „adapted“ to meet the needs of the „market“ without regard for the interests of the employees.

Here, too, it is necessary for all employees to take to heart the „secret of success“ of the Gnieszno workforce: Ultimately, they were only successful through their organization in the IP, our Polish sister union. However, the strike in Gniezno has shown again that management is not giving the workforce anything for free.

Under Polish law, workers do not receive any pay for the days of the strike unless management subsequently agrees to pay them. The low wages are insufficient to support their families during the strike. The IP is still small and consists of workers who often earn only the Polish minimum wage. So, if you have the opportunity, please help us with a donation of any amount so we can support our members: www.zrzutka.pl/m2xrgk. If you have any problems with transfering, please write us at finanse@ozzip.pl or transfer the amount directly to our bank account, with the reference „Support for the strike at Jeremias.“

OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza, IBAN PL88 2130 0004 2001 0577 6570 0001, BIC/SWIFT-Code: INGBPLPW