Strike 18 Jan 2011
Are OBI Workers Ready for
a Fight?
ZSP is supporting a group of
workers from OBI in their fight
against violation of workers' rights,
to improve their working conditions
and avoid future deterioration.
OBI is a famous international chain
of large building supply stores.
There have been a number of
famous cases involving workers in
that chain. In 2001, there was a
union busting incident in Warsaw.
(At that time there was no ZSP but
some of our members took part in
actions related to this.) There were
also well-known and documented
incidents of mobbing.
The workers in a Krakow store
formed a union. There was
immediate repression: firing of a
union activist and an (unsuccessful)
attempt to fire another. It was one of
the big mainstream unions. We
have a comrade in this store but the
workers at the time were not
interested in an anarchosyndicalist
union. However now at least a few
are interested in direct action and
the possibility of doing these actions
in different cities.
There are numerous health and
safety violations at the shop. Most
of the people working there are
salespeople, including some whose
job is a mixture of sales and setting
up the shop, moving things around,
putting them on shelves, etc. Many
accidents have to do with this
aspect of the job. Workers
complain also that machinery like
forklifts are often old and don't work
correctly.
The workers take home about 350
euro, which is a very low salary but
higher than the minimum. They are
not paid extra for overtime or work
on the weekend. They also have to
work on some days before holidays
when others are usually let off early,
like Christmas and New Years' Eve.
This was one of the demands of the
workers – that they have a shortened
work day too and ZSP wrote leaflets
about this situations for customers,
asking them to show solidarity with
this demand on these days.
The company makes wide use of
mystery shoppers (Verkaufer Test,
or V-Test in OBI slang) . These
agents, acting as customers,
secretly evaluate the employees
performance. Each employee is
tested at least once a month. A bad
appraisal will get somebody fired.
Any bonuses given are awarded on
the basis of these shoppers and
typically amounts to 25 euros.
The workers complain most of all at
their treatment by management,
especially when they remind them
of their rights or ask for better
conditions. Usually they are
threatened in some way that they
will lose their jobs.
Finally, one thing which really
irritated the workers is the
company's idea to introduce some
„android” salespeople. In reality, it is
a big doll connected to a computer
which can answer some simple
questions. People are furious that
some will lose their jobs to robots
and want to take action. ZSP would
like to involve consumers by making
a campaign against the robots.
Some actions should take place at
the Warsaw stores in January and
February. If more workers are
interested, we can always expand
the action.
Against Union Repression
Our local group offered media
support and solidarity to repressed
unionists from the PKS Suwalki bus
company in the east of Poland. The
activists, from two small independent
unions, had first contacted us about the
worsening condition of the bus company
and then about the repression. Both
unionists have been reinstated to
work. On Dec. 14, the boss was
found guilty of illegally firing the
unionists and fined 2000 euros.
Immediately before the end of the
court case, we published the
following statement:
Solidarity to the Struggling
Workers of PKS Suwalki
On the Role of State Institutions
in Collaborating Against
Workers' Action
For months there have been
problems between the workers of
PKS Suwalki and the management.
PKS Suwalki is a bus company
employing over 400 people, which
also operates in Elk, Augustow,
Olecko, Goldap and Sejny. It was
commericalized in 2006 but was still
owned by the State Treasury. Then
it was unclear whether or not it
would be privatized; in the end it
was taken over by the Voivodship
and remains a public entity.
Last year problems started with threats
of reductions, restructuring and
changing the status of the offices on
location from independent offices to
simple bus terminals. On April 1, 2009,
drivers in Augustow held a small wildcat
strike. Jaroslaw Zaborowski from the Self-
Managed Independent Union of PKS
Workers was fired for the strike. He took
this to court and later was reinstated.
In PKS Suwalki there are 6 union
organizations. Five of them started
last year to fight the proposed
restructurization process, proposed the
communalization of the company
rather than its privatization and
started exposing the shady activity
of the management. For example, it
was proven that the management
was taking money out the workers'
social fund to pay into the company
budget. In the past, workers received
about 100 euros a year from the fund
that they themselves pay into; after the
management started dipping into it,
the workers received nothing.
The unions also argued that the
worsening financial condition of the
company was not the fault of the
crisis, but of bad management. They
started to fight to dismiss the
managers.
In April of 2010, two unionists,
again Zaborowski and Boguslaw
Brynda from the Free Union of
Drivers, were fired for "acting to the
detriment of the company". This is
because they spoke about this
situation in the press.
Following the dismissals, the
management attempted to get other
workers and unions against these
people. It is a typical manipulation
made by bosses in Poland, to try
and convince workers that activity
of this sort "ruins companies" and
will be bad for workers, while they
themselves misuse funds and then
impose misery on the workers, who
are expected to work more and
earn less, to boost profits. In this
pluralistic union landscape, we have
seen time and time again that the
bosses try to single out the smaller,
more militant unions and put their
membership first in line when
reduction time comes.
In recent months, the bosses
managed to pacify two of the five
fighting unions, who resigned from
their original demand. They dealt a
repressive blow to another two. But
Zaborowski and Brynda did not give
up, taking the case to court and
intensifying their campaign at the
bus company, even while fired. We
were delighted to learn that both
have been reinstated to their jobs.
But the matter isn't over yet. The
court is deciding a criminal case
against Stanislaw Bilda, the
Chairman of the Board of PKS
Suwalki. The unionists decided to
try to get court decisions against
Bilda, for their illegal dismissal and
the misuse of the social funds. If the
court decides against Bilda is both
cases, he should have to be
dismissed from his position. A
decision is due on December 14.
We are angry about the widespread
use of the blanket term "acting to
the detriment of the company" which is
commonly used against unionists to
repress them for their activity. After
one of our comrades from ZSP was
fired this way and fought back, we
started to hear from unionists from
all over the country who met with
similar fates, and, most often they
were fired for giving interviews in
newspapers. The acceptance of
such grounds for dismissal is
nothing more than a tool for
repressing workers' activity, limiting
their abilities to expose abuse and
illegal activities in their workplaces,
which we know is very common.
Labour courts, the institutions which
are supposed to protect workers'
rights, often accept such grounds.
Even when they determine that
somebody was illegally fired, they
often do not reinstate them to work.
We are very happy that Zaborowski
and Brynda did not meet this fate -
but it is what is now happening to a
majority of union activists in Poland.
The other problem we see is that, in
conflicts, the workers bear the brunt
of repression and have a lot to lose.
Many who are fired have trouble
finding other jobs or may be
blacklisted. As many also had very
low incomes, the loss of a job can
lead them immediately into debt
and many related problems. So
workers get the message that, if
they fight, they can lose a lot.
On the other hand, what usually
happens to a boss when he is guilty
of illegally firing somebody? The
maximum fine one can get is
30,000 zloties - or 7500 euros.
There are many companies happy
to risk paying this amount to get rid
of some unionists. But the fact is
that almost nobody gets a fine like
this. And in the case of Zaborowski
and Brynda, the State Labour
Inspectorate itself has suggested
that a fine of 3000 zloties (750
euros) would be more appropriate.
We see this situation very clearly
and understand what side the Law
is really on. We call on all working
people to understand this too and to
understand that Justice is not
guaranteed by the State and its
institutions.
What we need is more workers'
solidarity, more common action,
organization and direct action in the
workplace. It is through this type of
action that we can really bring the
bosses to account, and maybe one
day even get rid of them.
Some other Cases of Union
Repression, 2010
(Cases described include both
independent and a small groups
organized in mainstream unions)
Greenway Restaurant in Wroclaw
Legal harrassment of member of
ZSP for union activity. Law firm of
restaurant made illegal threats that
the unionist would be charged with
criminal activity, including extortion,
which could carry up to 14 years in
jail. They also threatened to inform
university authorities of her activity
as if it was a crime. (The comrade
was studying at the time.)
OBI Hypermarket in Krakow
Typical union busting. Activist of
newly formed trade union fired.
Unsuccessful attempt to fire second
unionist. Firing took place in July.
Case in court.
JSW (Jastrzębska Coal Company)
Some matters related to the 46 day
Budryk strike in 2007-2008 are still
in court. One unionist was not
reinstated but won an appeal. However
in Decemeber the Supreme Court
overturned the ruling. The mining
company fired union leaders claiming
the strike was illegal and that they
engaged in illegal activity – ie.
illegal occupation of the mine.
LG Chem in Bikupice Podgórne
The Korean manufacturer LG is a
company with one of the worst
records for violating workers' rights
in different factories in Poland. In
December they carried out a group
dismissal mainly compromising of
union members and including the
union leadership.
Veolia Transport, bus company in
Kołobrzeg In August a union
representative was fired. She was accused
of „leaking company secrets”, a common
charge against activists, especially if
they talk to the press. The firm has a
long history of union repression. It
used to be Connex and there were
cases that the court reinstated
unionists, who only got fired again
under new pretexts. Veolia later
tried to publically claim a different
reason for firing, the famous „did
not fulfill work obligations” pretext.
Gniewczyna Wagon Factory At the
beginning of June, the representatives
of 4 unions, 2 mainstream and 2
small indepedent ones, were fired
for organizing an hour and a half
long warning strike on May 10. A
representative of ZSP Warsaw was
invited to the factory and we are in
contact and support the cases of
the two independent unionists.
Kwidzyn Unionist from Warminski
Fruit and Vegetable Processing
Plant (WZPOW) fired in April.
Gestamp company from Września:
Union busting. On Jan.11 a union
was formed. The next day the
company was notified and the day
after, the union representative fired.
The company decided to return the
unionist to work in exchange for
dropping a court case as a result of
bad publicity.
GZGK Świerklany Activity of union
in a unit of public adminstration blocked
by bureaucrats. 4 union members,
including representative, fired disciplinarily
under false pretexts after bringing
complaints to the city council.
Gerda 2 company in Starachowice
Union busting. A new union was at
the end of December with the
minimum 10 members. Every one
of them was fired. The company
reinstated the two people named on
the legal papers of the union a few
days later to avoid a court case with
them for illegal firing.
These are just a few examples! We
publicized these cases and made
other forms of solidarity for some
ofthe workers from the independent
unions and our comrades in OBI.
We are writing a longer report on
some of these cases which we will
publish in the first quarter of 2011.
Statistics Show Bosses
Above the Law
ZSP is not a fan of the state solving
workers disputes. Institutions like
the courts, which collaborate with
Capital, just give workers the false
impression that class conflict can be
solved through their medium.
However, we don't condemn their
use and think they need to be held
accountable for their actions. The
case of the PKS Suwalki unionists
has rather successful, if you
consider that at least they were
reinstated to work. On the other
hand, the fines imposed on the
bosses are so low, they have no
deterrant value.
But this result, reinstatement, is a
rare thing. The courts do not publish
statistics, but our research last year
indicated that only around 20% of
cases ended in reinstatement. And
in some of these cases, the workers
were not allowed back to work, but
paid anyway, or were later gotten
rid of in some other fashion.
We have been complaining about
the bias of the courts for some time,
but we lack hard documentation.
While speaking about this case, one
of our members encountered a
journalist who wanted figures. She
said „you are the paid journalist,
you go get them”. Gathering
statistics from the court is a
challenge, but the journalist, a
doubter from a right-wing, pro-
business newspaper got them – not
about reinstatement rates, but
about the rates of prosecution of
bosses who have committed crimes
against workers. The results of this
research shocked him and were
published immediately before the
decision was made in the unionists'
case.
If the State Labour Inspectorate finds
evidence that a crime has been
committed at a workplace, it should
inform the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Such crimes would include things like
criminal negligence, when an employee
has endangered the life of a worker.
Such would be the case at the National
Stadium building site in Warsaw where
two workers died. At the time, we
pressed on this issue and encouraged
frightened worker witnesses to come
forward and tell the truth. This was that
the crane which the workers were on
when they fell to their deaths was not
certified for use, the workers did not
have the proper health and safety
training and documents attesting to the
training were falsified. This means that
the bosses were criminally negligent
and responsible for the deaths.
(In reality the practice is usually that
some lower level supervisor who
was „just following orders” from the
higher-ups gets blamed for this, or
subcontracting firms implementing
the orders of the main contractor.)
In reality, the Labour Inspectors do
not always report the criminal acts
that they find. And even if they do, the
Public Prosecutor rarely pursues the
case. What's more, the cases that do
go to court are usually dismissed.
Labour Inspectors, commenting on
the statistics published on this
issued, explained that sometimes
they don't report incidents because
they consider it pointless.
From January - November 2010, the
Labour Inspectorate filed 1082
notifications to the Public Prosecutor's
Office. Of these, they decided to press
charges in 70 cases. Only 12 bosses
were found guilty of any crime in 2010.
This is despite the fact that
everything indicates that bosses are
breaking the law more than ever.
About 72,000 firms are behind on
payments to workers. A number of
work camps have been exposed
where people weren’t paid, where
passports were confiscated and the
workers' freedom of movement was
curtailed. There have been numerous
fatal industrial accidents, most involving
some sort of intentional negligence. There
were also a number of bosses which
abandoned their firms, leaving workers
both unpaid and unemployed.

Warsaw Rent Strike:
Community Organizing and
Activization in the Context
of Social Atomization
In Warsaw a rent strike has been
going on since Oct.1. Despite the
fact that the issues may effect up to
a quarter of a million people in
Poland's capital city, we cannot say
that a significant percent of public
housing tenants have joined. This is
mainly due to a lack of tradition and the
extreme social atomization of the
population - something typical in many
post-Soviet bloc era countries. There is
also the issue of a minuscule grassroots
social movement and the disdain of the
left for anything radical and outside the
realms of reformist and party politics. [1]
The Warsaw ZSP, which called the strike,
had no illusions from the beginning
and saw the action as a long-term
one, one that would start off with the
participation of the most desperate,
with nothing to lose, but which could
grow as people saw the support
network expanding. We see the
activization of people in the community
as the key challenge and the element
which can ultimately change the
situation. For us, two months into
the beginning of the action, the
strike is really just starting.
ZSP saw the strike as a necessary
escalation of social protest against
antisocial housing policies, the
mass privatization of public housing
and gentrification. More importantly,
it is also a way to activate the
growing number of people who
cannot pay their rents, or who for
other reasons risk becoming
homeless to organize themselves
and fight back instead of falling into
despair and misery.
We became involved the tenants'
movement about a year and a half
ago as the city of Warsaw was
introducing a range of unprecedented
measures, ranging from drastic rent
hikes, increased privatization of public
housing and stricter rules for application
for public housing. Our members formed
the Tenants Defense Committee [2]
together with neighbors.
The first protests were connected to
the drastic rent hikes adopted in
Warsaw - ranging from 200-300%.
However, for many, rents were
actually raised much higher due to
the penalty rates imposed by the city.
The city can charge 300% more is a
tenant is in debt, or if some paperwork
in the past was not fulfilled. In the worst
case scenario, some bureaucrat in the
city did not fulfill some requirement
and now the tenant has to pay.
Despite many protests, and formal
attempts to overturn the city's vote,
the administration would not bend.
The local government argued that
the extra would be used to restore
ruined housing. But in the end, a
meager 1% of the money really
went for repairs.
Many people simply cannot afford
the new rents, especially the elderly.
More and more people also live in
housing which has been changed
from public housing to privatized
through the reprivatization process.
[3] Reprivatization has already
effected tens of thousands of
people. After a house ceases to be
municipal housing, the new
landlords can raise the rent as well.
Many tenants have to choose
between paying for food and
medicine or paying the rent. There
is not nearly enough social help for
people and many of the most needy
find themselves excluded from the
system. For example, there is some
aid available for people with low
incomes - only you are excluded
from it if you are in debt (!!!) or if
there were some problems with
your paperwork. Scandalously, this
decision to make debtors ineligible
for rent deductions was made at a
time a large proportion of people
were already in debt. Over the last year,
the percentage has increased
dramatically, with some neighbourhoods
reporting 50-60% of public housing
tenants in debt and at risk of eviction.
In the
context of
the current,
widespread
social
atomization,
a really
obscene situation has been
created. People in general act as if
this situation is their own personal
tragedy. This is part of the
internalization of the dominant
neoliberal logic; if somebody cannot
pay their rent, then it is not the
system at fault and certainly it is not
the fault of greedy landlords and
speculators, or scummy politicians
would would rather redecorate their
offices and spend public money on
bonuses for their cronies then on
public housing. The neoliberal logic
places the blame on the individual: if
you don't have enough money to buy
your own flat, it is your fault and you
should suffer the consequences. On top
of this internalized message, there is the
implication that people who ask for
public housing are something like
freeloaders and, unfortunately, people
are often made to feel as such by
politicians and public housing officials.
But the most decisive factors are the
feeling of social powerlessness, that
nothing can be done, and the lack of
motivation to engage oneself in this
type of activism with neighbours.
The latter is also fueled by years of
collective resentment that has pitted
people against each other, rather
than the system that is hurting them.
We unfortunately encounter cases
where neighbours show a lack of
solidarity to each other, for example
because they are convinced that their
neighbour is in debt because of some
personal defects.
All of these elements have made it
very difficult to build a stronger and
more effective response to the
housing issue. In the situation were
we have had to start from nothing,
we have to realize what a huge
success the tenants movement has
become on the bleak social landscape
of our city. This is however in relative
terms; in absolute terms, our
mobilization power is several hundred
people out of hundreds of thousands.
So we see that all of this is just the
tip of the iceberg for us. But we
must never get discouraged as it
takes this building process to reach
more people and greater proportions.
So many people are at risk of
eviction. In countries where there
are more developed social
movements, it might seem amazing
that the whole city is not on strike.
But we are in Poland. One of the
only countries where mass
privatization of education and health
care has not been met by mass
protests (or any significant protests
at all for that matter). It is the only
country in Europe which had strong
growth during the crisis period but
despite this, workers massively
accepted reductions and pay cuts
rather than strike. Such a social
vacuum is hard to explain and even
harder to understand if you have not
experienced it yourself. In this
vacuum though, a tiny number of
groups carry on the resistance, together
with a growing number of affected.
The process of enpowerment we
see when people take action, when
they refuse to give in and decide to
fight for themselves is quite
encouraging. Not everybody wins,
but when somebody does, it is our
collective victory that we all
celebrate. And it is an inspiration to
others that we can win. This is an
important element in the rent strike
for us. Rather than watching people
risk eviction alone as individuals, or
even helping out people as
individual cases, we propose that
people finally take collective action.
Because ultimately, it is going to be
collective action, not the solving of
individual cases, that will force
policy changes. If people cannot
afford the rent because of rent hikes
or anti-social policies, we say they
should join the strike and organize
themselves with others for mutual
self-defense.
What kind of mutual self-defense
are we talking about? Well, we will
see this in upcoming months. The
city gentrifiers have finally decided
to repair some buildings. The
problem is that, despite the fact that
people have paid rents and lived
miserably for years in crumbling
and freezing cold buildings that the
city has never bothered to care for,
when they do finally want to repair
the buildings, they will relocate
tenants. And, not all of them will
qualify for public housing.
How is that? Well, some families
received public housing years ago.
Practically everybody lived in it
during the time of the People's
Republic of Poland. After the
Transition, some people remained
in public housing. Some public
housing was also sold to tenants -
some was not and some people
simply couldn't afford to buy. So
currently, in public housing there are
some people whose incomes
exceed the meagre limit qualifying
people. But the city has not decided
to check all tenants' income. The
whole process is random. If your
house is condemned, reprivatized
or repaired and you earn "too
much", you are on your own. If your
house is in good shape, you can
stay (even if you can afford to rent
on the commerical market).
One of the members of our
Committee, a retired former
engineer, complained to the building
inspectors that his house poses a
threat to the life of the tenants.
(Among the common problems we
see are people getting carbon
monoxide poisoning, fire hazards
and collapsing elements of the
building.) Thanks to his intervention
in favour of his neighbours, his
building has been condemned. And
this 73 year old, who worked hard
all his life and managed to get a
pension which he actually can live on,
will not be moved into replacement
public housing. He is "too rich". But
we will do everything to prevent
such a travesty. This situation is
being repeated in a number of
buildings where we are organizing
with the tenants and, hopefully,
when the day comes, the city will
see what collective action means.
One of our next big campaigns has
to be to increase the upper income
limit to allow people to live in public
housing. This is already one of the
postulates of the rent strike.
Currently, people who earn more
than the minimum wage, or around
340 euro a month, cannot apply for
municipal housing, because supposedly
"they can afford commercial rent". If a
building is condemned (usually due to
years of deliberate and gross
negligence), you have to go through this
income verification process. It does not
matter if you are 90 years old or if you
are seriously ill. One of our members, a
retired woman whose family income
exceeds the limit by 25 euros, has a
very ill husband whose health has been
so negatively effected by stress that he
may die. She received some
interesting proposals from the city:
maybe her son could get three jobs
or marry someone rich, or maybe
she could take a loan and buy
something. These are the cruel
realities of how Poland treats its
citizens. As a response, we have
asked the city, which turns a blind
eye to thousands of such cases, to
tell people WHERE they can find an
apartment they can afford. We have
even officially demanded they be
useful and provide a list of
apartments that people in a certain
income bracket can afford. But we
know we won't get that list. The fact
is, these places on not available on
the commercial market.
We will make a new report, but
preliminary research shows that
rent for a one room apartment in
Warsaw starts at 400 euros a
month. This leaves a lot of people
who are ineligible for public
housing, but cannot afford
commercial rents either. For them, it
is a challenge, a life of cramming
people into small living spaces,
living in precarious conditions.
Imagine telling some couple in their
70s or 80s that they will have to
leave the home they have lived in
for 50 years and go spend most of
their income paying rent to some
landlord who can ask them to move
at almost any time. This is what we
are seeing on a daily basis: people
coming to us in tears and hysterics,
wondering how, at their age, they
are going to adjust to this new
situation, and whether or not they
are going to survive it.
Social housing for the homeless? It
exists, but there is a huge lack of it.
And what there is doesn't have to
comply with even the same

miserable standards of public
housing. Toilets in the corridor shared
by many. Or perhaps, in the future, like
in other cities, cold containers
somewhere on the outskirts of the city,
far from any shops, complete misery.
Uncomfortable and miserable but, for
the elderly, such conditions often
complicate existing health problems or
can even prove deadly.
Last year we started to help tenants
on a rather large scale, although the
need for intervention far exceeds
our capacities. As we did this, more
and more horror stories started to
emerge: tenants deprived of heat,
electricity or running water and
access to the toilet by greedy
landlords trying to evict them as fast
as possible; people forced to live in
houses that are in the danger of
collapsing. There were also a
number of fires set. In some cases,
tenants - who already lived without
electricity, heat or gas - were afraid
to leave the house, because the
landlords tried to lock them out.
Last year some people started to
barricade themselves in their
houses and refused to be evicted,
the first forms of spontaneous
resistance. They survived by lowering
baskets through their windows where
neighbors could put food.
Since the politicians and
speculators already had their plans,
we also made ours. In response to
these outrages, we organized a
number of direct actions, sometimes
with tenants of a particular house or
neighborhood, sometimes with other
groups. In the winter of 2009, desperate
tenants whose gas was cut off in the
winter occupied the office of a local
housing administration, effectively
blocking it for two weeks. [4] As a result
of this direct action, many of the tenants
received new housing with the
appropriate standard.
In autumn this year, we occupied
the office of the President of
Warsaw in the City Hall demanding
that the postulates of the tenants
movement regarding access to
public housing be fulfilled. On many
occasions there were noisy
interruptions of meetings of the City
Council, forcing them to put our
issues on the agenda. Sometime
this has resulted in minor victories
or the resolution of individual
problems. But we need to hit the
city much harder to get these
heartless "Thatcherites on steriods"
to do anything, or even to comply
with the existing law, for example, in
terms of housing standards.
Over the spring and summer, we
started to advise people about
forming their own organizations - in
houses, blocks or neighbourhoods.
The result was a coalition currently
consisting of 32 groups, mostly
such small groups of tenants. The
idea was to fight together, but, as
sometimes happens, there arose
differences of opinions as to the
methods. In the period before
November elections, some more
moderate tenant activists from other
groups decided to run for office and,
a critical time for us, called for more
patience and moderate approach.
[5] But we had no illusions in the
political process and decided on
escalating the protests by calling for
the strike.
ZSP made a strong stand against
participating in the elections. This
had to do with more than just our
anarchist convictions, which is why
our decision was usually accepted
and seen as being something
consistent. [6] Instead, we called for
tenant’s self-organization, stressing
the fact that only neighborhood
committees organized by tenants
can solve their own problems - not
the politicians who pretend to be
interested once in 4 years. As part
of a series of long-term actions, we
are now involved in calling
numerous public meetings.
Coming back to the rent strike, at
each meeting we ask people, even
if they are afraid and won't join the
strike themselves, to think about
building better community organization
and to do something to support the
postulates of the strike. We explain
that, as we build up real community
movements, we can achieve wider,
longer-term goals, but we also have
immediate demands, some which
are urgent and require immediate
action. The main demands of the
rent strike include: setting affordable
rents, adopting realistic income
criteria for public housing based on
the price of renting on the private
market, building more public
housing, no more privatization of
buildings with tenants, repairing
inadequate and dangerous housing,
building new flats to replace
condemned buildings, in the same
neighborhoods, not ghettos. We
also have to constantly monitor
what the politicians are doing and
block future unfavourable
ammendments to the law, or
decisions of the City Council.
But besides this, we want to spread
another vision, and this is the idea
of direct tenant and community
control of public housing. And in this
way, we also popularize some of the
ideas of anarchism, and question
some of the suppositions of the
neoliberal mentality, such as the
primacy of private property and the
rule of "the market". This is even to
the extent that some people we
interacted with now see themselves
as anarchists and at meetings
explain to others what "we as
anarchist think".
In terms of the strike, we will see
how it spreads, as more and more
people fall into debt and are facing
eviction or the privatization or
destruction of their houses. The
same goes for the overall
community organizing and direction
actions against resettlement to
ghettos and eviction.
One last thing must be mentioned.
There are many irregularities in the
reprivatization process and there
are organized mafias which deal in
forging and/or selling claims to
buildings, inventing or "finding" fictious
heirs or otherwise manipulating the
process. As a result, we can see
certain names and companies
appearing again and again and, ties
to some of these can be linked to
the husband of the President of
Warsaw and other well-connected
people. What role has the city been
playing in the process?
Unfortunately, one of the lasting
legacies of public policy has been to
deny tenants the right to information
on the reprivatization process.
Tenants are not considered to be
parties in the cases and often learn
that their homes have been
privatized and they are no longer
public housing tenants after the
whole process as been completed.
[7]
Due to this situation, people cannot
take action. To make the situation
worse, afterwards, even if they can
prove that fraud has taken place,
the Polish law will do nothing to
help if the property has been sold to
a third party. The law considers the
sale to be "in good faith", even if
fraud was used to obtain the
property! The fact of the matter is
that the real estate mafia conspires
to sell illegally obtained buildings as
soon as possible.
This is one reason that tenants
organizations have been fighting for
public access to information about
this process. But the city deliberately
makes this difficult and public officials
have even lied about the existence of
lists of public housing with claims in
court. This reached the highest
levels of the local government, with
even the disgraced former Vice
President telling us on public record
at the City Council that these didn't
exist. But these "non-existent" lists
were leaked. It was at that time that
ZSP decided to commit another act
of defiance, by declaring that,
whatever legal threats the city
would try to make, we would not
back down from publishing and
disseminating this information which
is marked "classified". The first list
concerned 1500 buildings and we
delivered notices to the buildings
and said "let's take action".
We told the city that, if they do not
give people this information, we will
get it anyway, by any means
possible. Shortly following this, we
occupied the office of the President
of Warsaw in City Hall. Although this
was not a huge mass action, it was
one of those things that scared the
hell out of the city. The next day, the
city bureaucrats promised that the
list of houses would go up on the
city's internet page by November
15. A victory for direct action!
Well, not entirely. As usual, they
didn't not do as they promised. So...
back to work. We have our hands
on two more lists and are delivering
them and with our tenants' group.
We are holding more open
meetings. These lists contain the
warning that they may not be
copied, published or distributed in
any way without the express written
consent of the President of Warsaw.
And again, we openly say that we
are going to defy this. And we did.
What will be the result of all this, we
don't know. In the meanwhile, we
will keep on fighting.
[1] Establishment leftists supported
by European social democrats
responded to the call for a rent
strike by telling tenants not to join in
and trying to scare them by claiming
they would get evicted.
[2] Website (in Polish):
www.lokatorzy.info.pl Some of the
actions we were involved in are
described in English on the ZSP
Warsaw blog:
www.zspwawa.blogspot.com
[3] Almost 1000 buildings have
already been reprivatized but the
process is just beginning. In total to
10,000 buildings may be subject to
reprivatization. The data from the
city on this process is scandalously
chaotic and the subject of a hard
battle for access to information.
Despite the fact that this may effect
a huge amount of people, the city
has not prepared any statistics
saying how many tenants may be
affected and how many units will be
taken out of the public housing
stock because of this.
[4] See www.zspwawa.blogspot.com in
the January 2010 archive.
[5] None of the tenant activists were
elected. And the calls for
moderation weakened the protest
movement. We hope that people
will learn something from this
episode. But this is also a
challenge. One of our ZSP
members, ironically, was the only
one offered the first place on an
electoral list, which he naturally
turned down. (He is much more
valuable spending his time working
at the grassroots level than hitting
his head against the wall with bozos
at the City Council.) Despite all,
some part of our neighbours
continue to believe that the solution
is the election of a representatives,
not the creation of a movement and
they lament the decision not to go
into politics. And this is one of the
challenges we face constantly, is
convincing people not to sit on their
hands and believe that somebody
will come along and settle these
matters for them, but instead to get
active, building the movement.
[6] Despite the above-mentioned
people who wanted to vote, we find
more people who say all politicians
are scum. One of all goals is to
convert this sense of betrayal with
all politicians into a belief that
people need to decide things
themselves directly.
[7] Reprivatizing these houses
together with the tenants, instead of
giving them replacement housing is
a violation of the European Social
Charter. Slovenia had to deal with
this problem. But, Slovenia was
obligated by the charter: Poland is
not. Poland ratified the ESC in but
did not accept all of its paragraphs.
However, it never ratified the
Revised European Social Charter
from 2005. Poland has neither
signed nor ratified the Additional
Protocol to the European Social
Charter, nor the Additional Protocol
providing for a system of collective
complaints. One of the Tenants'
Defense Committees current
campaigns deals with the ratification
of this charter, which would give
tenants a legal basis to complain
against Poland to European
institutions. But we have no illusions
that capitalism and profit always
come before human rights, despite
all sorts of noble-sounding
proclamations.
ZSP Gets out the Crowbar
Against Lawless Landlords
On Dec. 23, a man called our
colleague from the Tenants Defense
Committee in hysterics. When he came
home, he found that his flat had been
broken into, the locks changed and all
his stuff thrown out. He had been
evicted, without any notice, by his
landlady because he was a little behind
on the rent. The eviction was totally
illegal and broke several provisions of
the Act on the Protection of Tenants.
Our colleague went there and
brought the TV to confront the
landlady, an upper-class, Gucci-
wearing, botoxed and face-lifted
uberbitch returned emigrant who
became the owner of the building.
The despicable behaviour of this
woman drove viewers crazy: when
asked how she could treat a person
like this, especially before Christmas,
she stated that the man was “not a
person”. Internauts responded with
massive curses and threats.
At New Year we went to visit Ms.
Ferguson, who immediately ran
away. She wasn't quick enough and
we went into the building after her.
Some tenants gathered and we
gave information on their rights, the
law, how to act if they have trouble
with the landlady and an appeal to
organize themselves.
As it turns out, a preliminary
investigation indicates that there
was something very fishy about the
handing over of the administration
of the building to the landlady by the
former President of Warsaw, Pawel
Piskorski, who was known for shady
business deals. Surely there will be
a big attempt now to prevent our
investigation but we suspect we will
uncover some evidence of foul play.
Already a meeting was held and
many tenants came. The man who
was evicted now has to decide what
he wants to do. We received some
legal opinions saying that since the
eviction was illegal, he is still legally
a tenant and has the right to break
back in and change the locks back.
ZSP decided that in such situations
we not only recommend it, but will
bring the crowbar and help with the
process, including trying to organize
protection of the flat while the
tenant is out.
Tenants Meet About
Reprivatization
On Dec. 10, over 100 people met to
talk about the reprivatization of their
buildings. There was a presentation
about what to expect and what could be
done, with emphasis on taking direct
action and immediate organizing for
mutual self-defense.
The meeting was focused on one
neighbourhood and we plan to make
similar meetings all throughout
January, each time focusing on a
different neighbourhood.
Notices were delivered to houses
which were on a list maintained by
the city. Despite the fact that the
city claims this is "confidential
information" which may not be
copied or disseminated, we will not
be deterred and we plan to reach as
many people as possible.
ZSP has been involved in actions
involving this information, which
was repressed by the city, since
October, when the Rent Strike was
called. At the last session of the
City Council, the day before the
strike was called, the Vice President
lied about the existence of such lists
showing which houses were in the
process of reprivatization. Shortly
afterwards, we got our hands on the
document and started delivering it.
This caused the city to promise to
publish these lists on their web
pages by Nov. 15. Despite the
promises, they did not do so. We
got our hands on two more lists and
started the information action again.
|Finally, the city published a list on a
nearly impossible to find beta-
version of their site.
We decided to continue information
compaigns with the Tenants
Defense Committee and are hoping
that the public meetings will lead to
concrete action.
President of Warsaw Runs
Away from Tenants /
Opening of Estate for
Evicted under Bridge
For a couple of weeks we had been
trying to meet with the President of
Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
She doesn't seem to ever be in her
office, and when she hears we are
coming, she runs away. When we
found out that she had scheduled a
TV debate with the two other main
candidates for President of Warsaw
in the upcoming elections, we
decided to pay a visit. Waltz then
cancelled the most important pre-
election debate which was to be
broadcast live on TV.
No problem - we could (and did) protest
against the other candidates.
Tenants also decided to make an
action to demonstrate the effects of
the city's housing policies. About a
dozen people who have been
evicted or have eviction notices
decided to go down to the river and set
up an "estate" for the homeless under
the bridge. In the background, many
investments made in the city: the
Swietokrzyski Bridge, the Copernicus
Science Center and the National
Stadium - all costly show investments
made at the same time the city attacks
public housing.
Instead of watching the President of
Warsaw on TV, viewers got to hear
members of tenants organizations
and ZSP broadcast live.
ZSP Boycott Elections
ZSP again boycotted elections, calling for
more grassroots activism instead of
participation in the electoral farce.
This year’s elections became quite
difficult for us as, for the first time, a
large number of people we know
decided to run for office. In particular
we were disgusted at the electoral list
created by two local groups of Worker’s
Initiative together with members of the
All-Polish National Movement. We felt
that this action was the logical
conclusion of years of debate with
people from that political tendency
who had been for years arguing in
favour of electoral participation.
In Warsaw a few dozen people from
various social movements ran.
Three people we know were
elected. We argued to them that, no
matter what their politics are, the
political power pacts will get them.
Less than a month after elections,
we were already proven right as the
left party, which is in coalition with
the neoliberals, expects people to
vote the line. The first thing our
leftist friends did was to vote to give
the president of the city a raise.
Although some people are dogmatic
about elections, we think that these
people, by already turning into the class
collaborationists of the neoliberals, prove
our point once again.
Instead of giving people hope that
somebody can get in and change
things, we insist that the only real
changes can take place from the
creation of a mass social movement
from below.
Confronting the Politicians
During the election campaign, we
became major pains in the asses for
politicians, following them around and
reminding people of all their anti-social
actions. The President of Warsaw routinely
ran from us, even cancelling a TV
appearance. At another debate, we went
and heckled her. Some politicians decided
to avoid the Praga neighbourhood* rather
than meet any of us on the street.
* Neighbourhood where ZSP has an office
and some members live. It is also the most
politically problematic area and the only one
in Warsaw where the neoliberals were not in
charge. On the date of publication, we
received the incredible news that instead of
our elected officials, the President of the City
has appointed her cronies in charge of the
local council as the authorities dispute
appointments.
IV Congress of ZSP
On Dec.4-5 the 4th Congress of
ZSP took place in Wroclaw. The
first day of the Congress was
dedicated to presenting votes on
various proposals and discussing
other proposals which will be voted
on by referendum. Most had to do
with improving internal organization
but also there were decisions made
about producing more printed
material and holding more open
meetings in different cities around
Poland where we have been
invited. Besides this, we had to
discuss the situation where one of
our comrades had an industrial
accident at work and how we will
respond in case the company
refuses to pay compensation and
improve the health and safety
practices. On the second day, we
had more open discussion and
visitors to the congress. There was
discussion of future cooperation,
new potential sections of ZSP and
support of an upcoming campaign
with a group of workers which
contacted us. After the Congress, in
the evening, there was an open
meeting with the residents of the
Nadodrze neighbourhood, where
the ZSP meets and which is being
gentrified, The comrades hope to
build a local resistance to that
process.
We are hoping to start work on
some of the new projects and
campaigns after the New Year.
Solidarity with Student
Protests in UK
On Dec. 13, there was a picket at
the British Embassy in Warsaw in
solidarity with the protests against
tuition hikes and educational cuts. A
couple of dozen people from
various left organizations turned
out, mostly students and teachers.
ZSP members distributed booklets
about the Bologna process and
came with calls for free education
on libertarian principles. It raised
criticism of the educational system
and capitalism in general, thus
bringing a more radical point of view
to the people at the demo.
Protestors pointed out that it is high
time to organize more resistance in
Poland, which is probably one of
the few countries in Europe which
does not have a strong student
movement and has not seen any large
protests about the commericalization of
education. All agreed that students,
teachers, parents and just
concerned citizens should be
fighting against this process, which
concerns the future of society and
sharpens class divisions.

11 November – Against
Nationalism, Fascism and
Capitalism
Statement of ZSP Warsaw
ZSP Warsaw wil actively oppose
the marches organized by right-
wing organizations in Warsaw 11 of
November. We are not only against
the right-wing groups such as ONR,
and their storm trooper subculture,
but also against all the proponents
of authoritarianism, xenophobia,
racism and capitalism who
propagate their conservatice and
antisocial world view, regardless of
whether they dress in suits or
Lonsdale and Thor Steinar shirts.
The politics of the right-wing offer
nothing to the working class except
for ideological poison which drives
people further apart and
strengthens the authority and power
of small elites.
Nationalism – this is the ideology
which pits people from different
lands against each other when
internationalism is needed more
than ever to combat the
manoeuvres of global capital.
Racism – functions essentially like
nationalism, promoting hatred for no
reason, creating false scapegoats
for societal problems created by
factors such as capitalism.
Fascism – extreme authoritarianism
which will never solve the problem
of a lack of democracy in the liberal-
parliamentary system. The cult of
leaders and totalitarian dictatorships
of parties can come in different
colours, brown and red and
sometimes mixed. Each of these
forms of power aim to destroy real
grassroots social movements.
During the period around the
Second World War, people from
both tendencies murdered workers
fighting for their rights.
Capitalism – the tool which allows
elites to accumulate wealth, power
and control over the means of
production – pushing even more
social groups into the abyss of
unemployment, homelessness and
poverty. The ideological screen of
capitalism is liberal democracy,
which in its hyprocisy announces its
fight against fascism and
nationalism, although it is the best
medium for these tendencies.
ZSP has always stood against the
We oppose the spread of these
spread of creeping fascism, racism
toxic ideas and call instead for
and all right-wing ideology. We
human solidarity, internationalism
have always actively opposed such
and libertarian communism based
marches and our members have
on direct democracy. We oppose
always, even before the birth of our
centralization with self-management at
organization, been amongst the
the workplace and in the community.
main opponents of the groups
We look critically on those marching on Nov. 11.
antifascists who come from the
Whereas in the past, actions
liberal tendency and call for
against the fascist marches tended
opposition against fascists from
to either be informal or centered
ONR, at the same time expressing
strictly around the anarchist
their acceptance of the worst
movement, the present coalition, in
antisocial politics of neoliberal
our view, is symbolic of the
capitalism. Capitalism is a system
degradation of certain anarchist
just as deadly as fascism and is
political tendencies and their
responsible for the death and
incorporation rather into broad
misery of millions of people. Modern
liberal politics.
ghettos for the excluded are created
on the orders of the neoliberals
Cooperation with Liberals
which the loud applause of the neo-
liberal media – with Gazeta Those who wished to become
Wyborcza at their head. Therefore,
something like official organizers of
being antifascists, we are the anti-fascist events decided last year
enemies of the propaganda line
that their main goal was to create a
represented by Gazeta. broad anti-fascism, for everybody.
Although this might seem logical on
We call on those who share this
the surface, what it meant in
opposition to capitalism as much as
practice was the organization of an
fascism to join the anticapitalist blok
event for the liberal and left
on Nov. 11.
establishment. The most prominent
Fascists and bourgeoisie – we plan speaker was from the editorial
your end! board of the main establishment
newspaper; this was highly
criticized by all social anarchists in
the city. At the same time, there
Against Incorporation into was much effort made to push the
the Parliamentary Left, social anarchists to the side;
State-Funded Social instead they simply ignored the
liberal picket and engaged in radical
Movements and the Liberal direct action.
Establishment: Statement
Regarding Nov. 11 and However, the main mouthpiece of
Reasons for Non-Alliance in the anti-fascist action had become
the main establishment paper. This
the Nov. 11 Coalition year, it plays even a greater role,
Background mobilizing people to stand against
the fascists. At the same time, it is
practicing censorship against
November 11 is the Polish national
journalists who would write about
holiday. Each year, patriotic and far-
social movements inconvenient to
right groups march on this day.
capital. In another city, one local
editor would like to even try and
take over the organization of the
antifa protest himself, as would the
President of the City who is running
for re-election.
We also notice that the involvement
of the mainstream establishment
press, funded organizations and left
parties in the action has only
increased the importance of this
event and thus has largely served
to help the fascists mobilize.
Whereas a couple of years ago they
were only 50, now they are several
hundred strong... and mobilize such
numbers in different cities.
Unfortunately we note that a certain
part of this fascist movement is
motivated by reaction to both the
dominant neoliberalism in Poland,
as well as the role of the European
Union. Critical feelings towards
neoliberalism are effectively
manipulated by nationalists and
various right-wing populists thus the
role of the ideological mouthpiece of
neoliberalism in Poland and
Europhoria has served as an
additional argument used to support
the right-wing mobilization.
Whereas the antifascist movement
in Warsaw was once anti-party,
(even last year political parties were
told not to come with their flags and
banners), this decision is now
reversed. Such a decision is all the
more troublesome when we take
into account the fact that people
who were at our actions just last
week, or whom we cooperated with
are now running for election.... on
the list of the SLD.
Such degradation of the left cannot
be left without comment. For the
past decade, even the pro-statist
people who considered themselves
leftists have been trying to build
some movements or parties outside
of the SLD, the former ruling party
which is responsible for, among
other things, attacks on the labour
code, liberalization of public
services, the introduction of flat rate
tax and many other forms of relief
for business, sending Polish troops
to Iraq, setting up CIA torture
centers in Poland, inviting
Americans to put missile bases on
this territory, etc. etc. Some years
ago, members of ZSP attacked the
SLD at every opportunity with great
support of the people which
considered themselves left of the
SLD, or some sort of authentic left.
Now they are begging us not to
make anti-election campaigns
against them. Some of us were
even invited to a meeting with
heads of the SLD on the weekend
and had to suffer naïve attempts to
buy us off, including the incorporation
of some of our concrete postulates
into their political program. But our
political vision has not degraded and
we have made our positions perfectly
clear.
Whereas it would hardly be
imaginable for self-proclaimed
anarchists to stand arm in arm on
the barricades with the SLD just a
few years ago, they are now in
coalition with some groups either
supporting this party and even one
NGO whose founder and main
person is a candidate. In such a
context, the Nov. 11 action is their
chance to appear among anarchists,
leftists and liberals and try to
convince them that they are an
authentic left party. People who
used to organize around anarcho-
feminism get sucked into networks,
also in the coalition, like the Left
Feminist Network. Their portal, called
Feminist Electoral Portal named after
Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka (SLD politician
killed in Smolensk) is linked to on the
Coalition page and it is clearly
geared towards increasing the
participation of left women in the
reformist projects through electoral
politics.
Such groups are not the only
problematic ones, but it is rather
symbolic of a trend: the
incoporation of anarchists into left
and liberal projects and/ or the
subsequent apologism for the crap
politics of these groups.
Further, we have to note also the
number of people amongst the
organizers of the action who finance
their activity, including parts of this
action, using state or party funds.
Besides the inclusion of groups
participating in elections and
liberals, we even have the inclusion
of bosses, for example bookshop /
cafe Falanster, with which ZSP had
a labour conflict, listed among the
supporting organizations as
Falanster Collective. (Sorry, but
since when do collectives have
bosses who can hire and fire
workers and who are owners?) For
us, naming a capitalist business
(albeit alternative) as a collective is
the same as treating the candidates
and politicians of the SLD as part of
“the movement”.
Such a movement is not for us. We
remain opposed to parliamentarianism
and political parties, opposed to state
support, capitalism in the guise of
alternative consumerism or ethical
business, opposed to the neoliberal
ideology which worms its way into
the conscious of young people as a
package of neoliberal economics
and liberal personal and lifestyle
politics.
For these reasons, as we see the
so-called left, NGOs, liberal lifestyle
anarchists and others slide deeper
into the muddy waters of broad
coalition politics, we again this year
decide that our fight is not only
against the fascists, but also
against capitalism and the
neoliberal establishment, as well as
the social democrats which attempt
to channel left social movements
into the dead end of concillatory
political alliances.
POSTSCRIPTUM
Following the Nov. 11 march, the
neoliberals turned on the anarchists
and antifascists. First, they made a
big scandal about a Chumbawamba
song played at the demo which said
“give the fascist man a gunshot”. They
denounced anarchists as being just as
bad as fascists. Amazingly, members of
the Nov.11 Coalition apologized for this
song. Then the main newspaper was
running editorials saying that next year
people should chase anarchists off the
antifascist march.
The Warsaw Antifa, which was the
only other local grouping which had
boycotted the Coalition, along with
ZSP, issued a response to this.
Some members of the Coalition finally
understood what was happening and
condemned the neoliberals anti-
anarchist stance, but not the neoliberals
themselves.

About the blockade: About 2000
people tried to block a couple of
fascist and right-wing marches that
went through the city. Police did
everything possible to enable the
march to go on a different route
while provoking, invigilating and
surrounding the antifascists.
ZSP also reminded that they are
against capitalism and there were
some sharp words towards the
capitalist political parties whose
activists turned up with flags and
election leaflets. We gave out about
1500 leaflets to passersby
explaining why we were there and
giving our point of view that we
must also fight capitalism, which is
just as deadly as fascism.
Our banner said "Nationalism is the
enemy of the working class;
Fascists are the useful idiots of
Capitalism" and we used it to try
and block the street. The "red block"
(as the organizers decided to name
it) managed to block a few streets
for a while .
There were some clashes with
fascists, but even more with police.
We refused to get ourselves in the
police cordon and resisted attempts
of the cops to push us there; we
also intervened during an arrest but
unfortunately did not manage to
unrest the demonstrator as there
were too many cops. In the end, the
fascist march, which was rerouted,
got blocked only a while; a huge
force of police quickly surrounded
people and held then in the cordon.
Those out of the cordon were not
able to get too close because of
police escorts and blockades during
the way. So again, the fascist march
demonstrated in Warsaw, helped by
masses forces of police (and
taxpayer money).
Dozens of people were arrested,
including one comrade from ZSP.
Several people were also
hospitalized.
Union Members
Discriminated Against at
Supermarket
Every year ZSP runs the Worst
Employer of the Year Competition.
Workers from the infamous
supermarket Biedronka (owned by
Jeronimo Martins) have begun to write
and it seems as if the market is
discriminating against union members.
Enough repression of unionists!
If you would like to receive our
report on union repression in
Poland, please write to us at
is@zsp.net.pl
Our report will contain a lot of
information left out by the
mainstream union organizations,
which tend to focus only of the
major unions. But companies go
after the small unions just as much,
only you rarely hear about this.
On our internet portal Pracownik,
At the end of the year, the supermarket we try to report on some labour
chain decided not to renew the conflicts which would otherwise be
contracts of some workers at several unknown and bring them to wider
stores in Poland. A few people heard attention. There is also a small
unofficially that they were being fired English section. Check it out!
because of their union membership
and started searching through the www.pracownik.net.pl
forum to see if others were in the same
position. A group of union members
now believe they were targetted by the
company. The manager of a shop in
Otwock (near Warsaw) even openly
said “if you drop out of the union, I will
extend your contract”.
News about IWA – AIT
On the day this bulletin was published
(Jan. 5), a group of the fired workers Multilanguage blog
came to picket the head office of
Jeronimo Martins in Warsaw. internationalworkersassociation.
blogspot.com
Biedronka supermarkets was known
for its terrible labour practices, which
led to many cases against the firm
which they lost in court. The chain Związek Syndykalistów Polski
became notorious and claimed to
ul. Targowa 22
improve working conditions. Workers
had formed an association to fight 03-731 Warszawa
against abuse in the market. Later,
there was a unionizing drive and
Contact: warszawa@zsp.net.pl
Solidarity unions were set up in many
shops. However, there have been Warsaw Blog:
some complaints that it cooperates too www.zspwawa.blogspot.com
closely with the management. Despite
this cooperative attitude, it seems like the ZSP: www.zsp.net pl
company still takes any opportunity it can
Contact: is@zsp.net.pl
to rid itself of its unionized staff.