All-Polish Inter-company Protest Committee established

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In July 2002, representatives of workers from a number of Polish companies facing financial crisis set up an All-Polish Inter-company Protest Committee (OMPK). This initiative grew from a protest committee set up outside the official trade unions by workers at the bankrupt Szczecin Shipyard. The new movement has been criticised by both the main trade unions and the Minister of Labour and Social Policy. OMPK has announced a set of demands, including measures to protect the national economy, and organised demonstrations, though with little success.

The Szczecin Shipyard, with some 6,000 employees, went into bankruptcy in June 2002 (PL0207101N), and over recent months several thousand workers from the shipyard have been meeting every day for rallies in on the company's premises. During one of these meetings in May 2002, trade unions operating in the shipyard – according to the press – lost control over the workers. Subsequently, trade union leaders and the company board went to Warsaw for negotiations with the Prime Minister and the Ministers of the State Treasury and the Economy and representatives of banks. When they returned to the shipyard, the union leaders apparently found that workers were no longer prepared to listen to them, and the lead in the protests against the company's bankruptcy was taken over by a protest committee composed of 17 shipyard employees. It was headed by Janusz Gajek, who stated that 'the committee means a no-confidence vote for the trade unions [...] this is a real representation of workers connected with shipbuilding.' The committee soon received letters of support and offers to join the protests from workers at many companies threatened with liquidation or undergoing a crisis.

On 13 July 2002, in the hall of the Stettin Shipyard, where a historic agreement between Solidarity (Solidarność) and the then government was signed in 1989, the All-Polish Protest Committee (Ogólnopolski Komitet Protestacyjny, OKP) was established. A couple of days later, its name was changed to the All-Polish Inter-company Protest Committee (Ogólnopolski Międzyzakładowy Komitet Protestacyjny, OMKP). The committee is headed by representatives from the workforces at 40 companies - including the Puławy Nitrogen Factory (Pulawskie Azoty), Swidnik State Aviation Company (Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze Świdnik), Warsaw Car Manufacturer (Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych, FSO), Belchatow Brown Coal Mine (Kopalnia Wegla Brunatnego Bełchatów), Ozarow Cable Manufacturer (Fabryka Kabli z Ożarowa) (PL0208104N) and Police Chemical Plant (Zakłady Chemiczne w Policach) - as well as representatives of the All-Polish Nurse and Midwife Trade Union (Ogólnopolski Związek Zawodowy Pielęgniarek i Położnych) and the Association of Farm Tenants (Związek Dzierżawców Gospodarstw Rolnych). According to estimates, the movement has reached about 140 companies.

The national committee of the Solidarity ‘80 (Solidarność ’80) trade union has offered organisational assistance to the new protest movement, letting OMPK use its offices free of charge. However, the two most important trade union confederations - the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, OPZZ) and the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy Solidarność, NSZZ 'Solidarność') - have criticised the new organisation. The reaction of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy was equally negative, stating that the existing trade unions are sufficient to conduct a dialogue.

OMPK has issued a set of 14 demands and given the government one month to implement them. Its demands include:

• a change of economic policy in the direction of the protection and development of the national economy;

• financial support for companies suffering crisis;

• financial support for agriculture; and

• complete information about membership negotiations conducted with the European Union.

According to analysts, all these demands have a very general character and are more wishes than specific demands for change. They are equally sceptical about the movement’s future. These forecasts were given some support by the failure of OMPK pickets organised at the end of July 2002. OMPK had called for demonstrations across the whole of Poland, with its chair calling on workers to 'come and show to the arrogant ones holding power that the patience of the people is coming to its end'. However, only about 12,000 workers from 20 or so companies responded to this appeal.