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All support to Polish striking miners!


POLAND
Written by International Trade Unions Network of Solidarity and Struggle
Saturday, 14 February 2015 13:51
In the end of January, the management of the mining company JSW (Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa) dismissed nine trade unionists who worked in the mine Budryk. Their “fault”? Organizing solidarity with the workers of four other coal mines of the company KW (Kompania Weglowa). The solidarity of Budryk miners’ strike (and other sites) contributed to the victory of the workers at KW: the bosses gave up closing the mines and dismissing their employees.
 
In the signed agreements, the government also committed with preventing repression on workers who had participated in the various strikes and demonstrations. By attacking the union activists from several organizations (OPZZ, Solidarnosc, Sierpen 80), the JSW management is attacking all miners. By allowing it the government attacks all workers.
The organizations of the  International Trade Union Network of Solidarity and Struggles support the thousands of striking miners.In the past, these comrades have shown their ability to lead huge struggles, like the 46-days miners’ strike in 2007/2008. We stand in solidarity with the miners struggle and ask that their demands are met, we demand the cancellation of the dismissals.
The miners have been on strike since January, 28. This has dramatic consequences for them, some of them lead, in addition, a hunger strike, and for all their relatives who live in poverty. Adding to the employer’s violence, there is the state violence through the police crackdown over demonstrators. They have shot 37 mm rubber bullets at the miners gathered outside the headquarters of JSW. There are dozens of wounded, some seriously. The state also uses “justice” to declare the strike “illegal”. We affirm that it is the strikers to decide on their strike and no one else!
All Polish trade unions support the strike. We, the organizations of the International Trade Union Network of Solidarity and Struggles:

  • also stand together,
  • make known in each of our countries the situation of miners and repression by employers and the Polish state,
  • call the entire international trade union movement to show support for the striking miners at Jastrzebie.

International Trade Unions Network of Solidarity and Struggle:
Central Sindical e Popular – Conlutas (Brazil)
Solidaires Trade Union (France)
Confederación General del Trabajo (Spanish Estate)
__________________________________________________________
APPEAL FROM POLISH MINERS
 

No shooting at workers!
No to the use of state institutions against protesters!
On February 12, the court decided that the strike of thousands of coal miners at the Company Jastrzebie (Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, JSW), Southern Poland, is illegal. On the same day, the city was crossed by a demonstration of miners’ women and children, to support their struggle.
The authorities are determined to break the strike that lasts for 16 days at any cost. Special police forces were sent against the miners, trying to crush the protest with unspeakable brutality, using riot troops who shoot rubber bullets with 37 mm guns, water cannons and tear gas. More than 20 miners were injured, some seriously. At the same time prosecutors have opened proceedings against the organizers of the protest, threatening them with the financial consequences of losses of the company affected by the strike. Among the prosecuted there is the unionist Krzysztof Labadz, one of the leaders of the strike of the mine “Budryk”, which lasted for 46 days seven years ago (2007-2008).
The striking miners demand the dismissal of the CEO of the Company, Jaroslaw Zagorski, whose management has led the company to the brink. The government, though it owns more than half of the company shares, does not yield. The miners and their families are determined. They defend their jobs but also the rights to protest to all Polish workers.
We call on trade unions and social organizations throughout Europe to support our struggle and to send us letters of support. Only international solidarity, as in the case of Greece, can roll back the dictates of neoliberal ruling. Only together we can fight their anti-social offensive in Europe.
Boguslaw Zietek
President of the Free Trade Union “August 80” (WZZ “Sierpien 80”)
PS. Send solidarity letters to: <“> darekzal74@gmail.com>;
______________________________________________________________________
The member organizations of the International Trade Unions Network of Solidarity and Struggle
National Trade Unions

  • Central Sindical e Popular Conlutas (CSP-Conlutas) – Brazil.
  • Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) – Spanish State.
  • Union syndicale Solidaires (Solidaires) – France.
  • Confédération Générale du Travail du Burkina (CGT-B) – Burkina.
  • Confederation of Indonesia People’s Movement (KPRI) – Indonésie.
  • Confederación Intersindical (Intersindical) – Spanish State.
  • Syndicat National Autonome des Personnels de l’Administration Publique (SNAPAP) – Algerie.
  • Batay Ouvriye – Haiti.
  • Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI) – Italy.
  • Confédération Nationale du Travail – Solidarité Ouvrière (CNT SO) – France.
  • Sindicato de Comisiones de Base (CO.BAS) – Spanish State.
  • Organisation Générale Indépendante des Travailleurs et Travailleuses d’Haïti (OGTHI) – Haiti.
  • Sindacato Intercategoriale Cobas (SI COBAS) – Italy
  • Confédération Nationale du Travail (CNT-f) – France.
  • Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (IAC) – Catalonia.
  • Union générale des travailleurs sahraouis (UGTSARIO) – Occidental Sahara.
  • Ezker Sindikalaren Konbergentzia (ESK) – Basque Country (Euskal Herria)
  • Confédération Nationale de Travailleurs du Sénégal Forces du Changement (CNTS/FC) – Senegal.
  • Independent Trade Unions for Egyptian Federation (EFITU) – Egypt.
  • Sindicato Autorganizzato Lavorator COBAS (SIAL-COBAS) – Italy.
  • Sindicato Intercategoriale COBAS (S.I. COBAS) – Italy.

Sectoral national trade unions

  • National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) – Britain.
  • Centrale Nationale des Employés – Confédération Syndicale Chrétienne (CNE/CSC) – Belgium.
  • Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Sistema Agroalimentario (SINALTRAINAL) – Colombia.
  • Fédération Générale des Postes, Telecom et Centres d’appel – Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (FGPTT/UGTT) – Tunes.
  • Trade Union in Ethnodata – Trade Union of Empoyees in the Outsourcing Companies in the financial sector – Greece.
  • Syndicat national des travailleurs des services de la santé humaine  (SYNTRASEH) – Benin
  • Organizzazione Sindicati Autonomi e di Base Ferrovie (ORSA Ferrovie) – Italy.
  • Sindicato Único de Trabajadores del Grupo Ripley S.A – Peru.
  • Union Nationale des Normaliens d’Haïti (UNNOH) – Haiti.
  • Confederazione Unitaria di Base Scuola Università Ricerca (CUB SUR) – Italy.
  • Confederazione Unitaria di Base Immigrazione (CUB Immigrazione) – Italy.
  • Coordinamento Autorganizzato Trasporti (CAT) – Italy.
  • Confederazione Unitaria di Base Credito e Assicurazioni (CUB SALLCA) – Italy.
  • Union Nationale des Travailleurs du Mali – Synd. des travailleurs du rail (SYTRAIL/UNTM) – Mali.
  • Gıda Sanayii İşçileri Sendikası – Devrimci İşçi Sendikaları Konfederasyonu (GIDA-IŞ/DISK) – Turkey.
  • Syndicat National des Travailleurs du Petit Train Bleu/SA (SNTPTB) – Senegal.
  • Asociación Nacional de Funcionarios Administrativos de la Caja de Seguro Social (ANFACSS) – Panama.
  • Conseil des Lycées d’Algérie (CLA) – Algery.
  • Confederazione Unitaria di Base Trasporti (CUB Trasporti) – Italy.
  • Syndicat de l’Enseignement Supérieur Solidaire (SESS) – Algery.
  • Palestinian Postal Service Workers Union (PPSWU) – Palestine

Local trade unions

  • Trades Union Congress Liverpool (TUC Liverpool) – England.
  • Sindacato Territoriale Autorganizzato (ORMA) – Italy
  • Fédération syndicale SUD Service public, canton de Vaud (SUD Vaud) – Switzerland.
  • Sections bruxelloises des étudiants FGTB  (Etudiants FGTB Bruxelles) –  Belgium.
  • Sindicato Unitario de Catalunya (SU Metro) – Catalonia.
  • Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Fiocruz (Asfoc-SN) – Brazil.
  • Türkiye DERİ-İŞ Sendikasi – Tuzla et Izmir (DERİ-İŞ Tuzla et Izmir) – Turkey.
  • L’autre syndicat, canton de Vaud (L’autre syndicat) – Suisse
  • Centrale Générale des Services Publics FGTB Ville de Bruxelles (CGSP/FGTB Bruxelles) – Belgium
  • Arbeitskreis Internationalismus IG Metall Berlin (IG Metall Berlin) – Germany

International trade unions

  • Industrial Workers of the World – International Solidarity Commission (IWW)
  • Currents, labor trends or networks
  • Transnationals Information Exchange Germany (TIE Germany) – Germany.
  • Emancipation tendance intersyndicale (Emancipation) – France.
  • Globalization Monitor (Gmo) – Hong Kong.
  • Courant Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire (CSR) – France.
  • No Austerity – Coordinamento delle lotte – Italy.
  • Solidarité Socialiste avec les Travailleurs en Iran (SSTI) – France.
  • Basis Initiative Solidarität (BASO) – Germany.
  • LabourNet Germany – Germany.
  • Resistenza Operaia – operai Fiat-Irisbus – Italy.

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