Pracujesz na umowie śmieciowej? Możemy pomóc!
Today the lawsuit against the Tenants' Defense Committee started. A couple of members of ZSP who are also in the Committee are being sued for making a film where tenants describe their problems with their landlady.
A small picket was held outside the court. The corridors were filled with tenants and journalists who filmed the people, who were all telling stories of their difficult and even desperate living situations. There was no place at all in the courtroom and the judge was a little consternated when a group of elderly women just decided to sit on the floor of the courtroom. The landlady was not present, but was represented by her lawyer, who had been involved in a very famous case related to slander on TV in the past. The TV stations were denied permission to film and some people wanted to speak out to the judge. After some minutes, things calmed down and the Committee, which was defending itself, submitted its arguments to the court, as well as evidence. The documents submitted were mostly related to what was said in the film. Among other things, the landlady claims that the tenant is not telling the truth, but most of what was said can be confirmed in one way or another.
The lawyer for the other side asked the judge to order us to remove the material from the internet immediately, but our comrade argued that, since the result of such an action would be the same as one of the goals of the lawsuit, such an order would result in the Claimant receiving what she wanted before the case was even heard. This argument was accepted by the judge and all material will remain in place. Due to the interest in the case, many people viewed the film over the last few days, at times crashing the site due to too many visitors.
On July 9, ZSP members started to make actions in Warsaw´s public transport against the raising of fares. Leaflets are being handed out calling for action, information is stuck in the transport. ZSP supports free and collectivized transportation as a goal but, besides from propagating such ideas, it would like to encourage people to mobilize against the fare increases in an active way. This includes protests and different types of direct actions such as not paying, mutual insurance schemes against ticket controls and, for those who do have a ticket, the passing of tickets to other passengers. We have noticed that people have actually started to practice the last one a little more recently.
We do not agree with the fare increase which hits the working poor the most and will make Warsaw´s public transport more expensive than in many cities in Europe. Besides this, we will continue to point out the various labour problems which exist, especially for bus drivers who are often forced to work too much for miserable pay, impacting on their health and safety and the safety of the passengers as well.
A couple of women employed to work in the Wago Elwag factory in Wroclaw did not receive their proper payment for all the hours worked when they received their first salary. They quit the job and decided to do something about the situation. At first OTTO gave them the run around. Later we spoke to a manager at OTTO during our protest in Wroclaw. She claimed that workers in the factory were doing piece work and only were paid for what they produced - however we pointed out that the contracts were just for 40 hours a week at a certain wage per hour. They workers received their payment a few days later and ZSP is trying to make sure there are not other workers in the factory with similar problems. We also encourage both OTTO workers in general, as well as the people in the factory, to organize themselves to avoid similar incidents of abuse.
At the end of May, during the visit of US President Barak Obama to Poland, we organized some protests, including one on Plac Trzech Krzyży in Warsaw. Besides the usual tactics they tried, including keeping about 100 people away from the protest, they brought along an LRAD. Those few of us who knew what the strange device was were very surprised: not only did nobody know that the police had this weapon, but we were fairly sure that its use is illegal. And we were right.
We later contacted the media and made a scandal about the police having this weapon, demanding to know how they spent public money on something that isn't even legal. The main newspaper in Poland wrote about this, asking the same question. Later, Amnesty International and the Helsinki Foundation joined in and this newspaper printed another article with the criticisms.
Some members of the ZSP from Warsaw are being sued for a film they made and put on the internet. Other members of the Tenants' Defense Committee are also being sued because the film was on their website. The video documents the problems of two families who have been having problems with their landlady, who wants to evict them, for years.
The video was intended to give tenants a voice in a system which is extremely one-sided, ignoring their rights and not even ensuring they are protected by the rights they have under the law.
ZSP has been running daily pickets at OTTO offices in Poland since the middle of June. Thousands of leaflets have been printed and distributed already. The picketing will continue for some time more on a daily basis during this busy hiring season.
We are also reaching out to the workers sent to Wago/Elwag factory in Wroclaw. The firm is a producer of electronic components. Two workers decided to fight back against OTTO when they did not receive the total amount of money for the hours they work. At Saturday's protest, a representative of OTTO claimed that this is because work in the factory is piecework, although the workers' contracts state they are paid by the hour. We are warning people who might be sent to work there about this possible cheating and demanding that OTTO pay what is promised in the contracts.
ZSP protested the practices of OTTO Workforce during an event OTTO sponsored called "OTTO Cup" which was held in the central square of the city. Leaflets were handed out warning of some of OTTO's actions against workers and what can be done to fight back. In addition, there was some criticism of the spectacle of the OTTO Cup. This was an international football competition of homeless people and both the city of Wroclaw and this company try to portray themselves as being charitable and helping homeless people. At the same time the city pretends it is interested in helping the homeless, it is creating policies that threaten to force many more people into homelessness. We mentioned the experience of the tenants' organization founded in Wroclaw by our comrades and their neighbours. OTTO, on the other hand, was already involved in an international scandal about its part in a scheme to help the Dutch government get rid of undesirable Polish immigrants by bringing them to Wroclaw, where they would be housed in a homeless shelter and resocialized. The city of Wroclaw did not agree to this and many Poles were furious with the ways the Dutch government were trying to think up to deport people from their country.
On July 1, near the stage of the city's gala concert to mark Poland's taking over the EU presidency, we held a protest against the price increases adopted by the city. The price of public transport is going up an average of 70%, day care almost 600%, water and sewage 30%. In addition, the city plans the privatization of the company that provides heat.
ZSP is campaigning against the increases and calls for direct action, including not paying transport fares and organizing alternative day care instead of paying the outrageous prices. ZSP also calls for transport to come under control of the workers and community. Signatures were gathered at the protest for a referendum which would overturn these decisions and block the privatization.
ZSP condemns the decision of Solidarity to invite Pawel Kukiz to sing at the demonstration June 30 in Warsaw.
Kukiz actively supported the march of nationalist groups on Nov.11, 2010. Nationalism is an ideology which divides workers, who instead need to be united internationally to fight the exploitation they face. Kukiz is also an opponent of gay rights, thus supporting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Workers' movements should be fighting all types of discrimination, which is also to the benefit of the bosses and divisive against working people.
Unite and fight against the ideology of discrimination in the workers movement!
ZSP Warsaw
Description of demo on local blog: www.zspwawa.blogspot.com
Last month the ZSP protested against price increases at the City Council. Despite hours of controversial debate, the neoliberal majority had already decided to do what they had done in many cities throughout Poland: raise the prices of different public services in a way that average working people would have to bear more costs.
The price raises are quite significant: public transport costs on average 70% higher (with some tickets raised even more), water and sewage 30% higher and, worst of all, the price of public nursery schools raised almost 600% for most people. It is true that the prices for the nursery schools will be lower for people earning minimum wage, but the highest rates are already imposed on anybody making just 60% of the average wage and will cost almost 300 euros a month (!!!) This is completely unaffordable and will hit working class mothers, especially single mothers the most. It is simply impossible for the average working mother to afford this price!
