In May 2004, over 1,000 trade union members held a demonstration outside the head office of the Orlen petroleum company in Płock, Poland. They were protesting against the planned divestment of a number of subsidiaries and against reported plans to relocate Orlen’s corporate headquarters to Warsaw.
Download article in original language : PL0406102NPL.DOC
In May 2004, over 1,000 trade union members held a demonstration outside the head office of the Orlen petroleum company in Płock, Poland. They were protesting against the planned divestment of a number of subsidiaries and against reported plans to relocate Orlen’s corporate headquarters to Warsaw.
The Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen ( PKN Orlen) petroleum company (PL0405104F), together with the Orlen Capital Group (Grupa Kapitałowa Orlen), ranks among the largest companies operating in Poland in terms of market capitalisation. The group has 35 direct subsidiaries and more than 17,600 employees (as of late 2002).
April 2004 saw a collective dispute over wages at Orlen. Then, on 19 May, a reported 1,000-2,000 members of the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy, NSZZ Solidarność), the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, OPZZ) and trade unions active in the petroleum industry assembled outside the Orlen headquarters in Płock. The unions object to the contemplated sale of the company’s stakes in Petrotel, Orlen Medica, and in Wisła Płock. They are demanding jobs for the people of Płock and business for other companies in the Orlen group, and also take issue with reported plans to move its headquarters to Warsaw. As the chair of the company's NSZZ Solidarność section, Ryszard Karaszewski, stated in a newspaper interview, 'in this way, the city will lose PLN 10 million in taxes. This means new redundancies and increased unemployment.'
The unions also allege that the directors of Orlen have laid the company open to political pressures and that they have infringed workers' rights guaranteed in collective agreements. The chair of NSZZ Solidarność’s national committee, Janusz Śniadek, stated: 'We cannot allow the state to follow policies of exploitation with respect to Orlen or to any other company with a State Treasury stake. If needs be, we will fight.' The two NSZZ Solidarność officers presented the chair of Orlen’s board of directors with a petition setting out 21 demands by the workforce.
Orlen’s chair was quoted in the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper as saying that the company’s management believes 'most of the demands to be unfounded ... but we respect all social protests. We will take up talks.' He also maintained that Orlen has never planned to move its headquarters from Płock and that 'we have never discriminated against our group companies. In 2003, they received orders worth more than PLN 2.5 billion. As regards redundancies, it is true that more than 1,000 people left in the space of two years, but most of them found work with the companies being spun off. Another 500 people have availed themselves of early retirement schemes.'
Some parties disregarded the statements of Mr Śniadek of NSZZ Solidarność and viewed the dispute in political terms. The deputy chair of Orlen, Andrzej Macenowicz, encouraged observers to 'please note the composition of the demonstrators. Most of them are people from outside Płock, a travelling band which wanders across all Poland. As for us, we meet with our unions every Wednesday.' These and similar suggestions of political undertones appeared to receive some support from the fact that a number of union activists sent the Płock regional authorities a document calling, among other demands, for: support measures (including welfare payments and pre-retirement benefits) for workers made redundant for reasons on the part of their employer; discontinuation of government measures that they claim consistently undermine the Labour Code; an end to the practice whereby employers force their employees to quit their jobs and become self-employed, so that the employer can achieve tax and social insurance savings; repeal of the latest round of changes to the Social Insurance Fund; and action to meet demands voiced by assorted 'problem' sectors. 'If the negotiations do not produce the expected results, we’ll be back, but no longer with such a peaceful attitude', the unionists concluded.
Some commentators believe that, while something appears to be amiss at Orlen, the demonstration in May tapped into a wider current of prevailing discontent with government policy among employees. Lately, events of this sort tend to attract union activists from sectors other than that directly concerned who thus seek to display solidarity while also drawing public attention to their own problems.
Il-Eurofound jirrakkomanda li din il-pubblikazzjoni tiġi kkwotata kif ġej.
Eurofound (2004), Protests at Orlen, article.
