A-Infos (en) Poland, Workers' Initiative* onCegielski Factory in crisis

This text is going to describe the historical and present meaning of the Cegielski factory 
in Poznan for the workers' movement in Poland, and the history of activity of Workers' 
Initiative in the factory since 2002. We are also going to show the development of the 
strategy of wildcat strike called "p?yta" during this years, for which a key activist of 
IP was recently sentenced in the Polish court. Last but not least, the article shows the 
recent influence of the global crises in the shipyards industry on the situation of 
Cegielski workers: 500 of them were fired, what mobilized others to mass demonstration in 
October 2009. ---- Since 2002 the Workers Initiative (Inicjatywa Pracownicza ? IP) has 
been working closely with the workers of Cegielski plant in Poznan, successively 
convincing the majority of the workers of its tactics.

These tactics are based on several simple principles: end of the conciliatory politics 
towards the enterprise management which were conducted here by trade unions; assurance of 
full access of the workers to information on the situation of the enterprise as well as on 
the situation of particular groups of workers employed in Cegielski; assurance of worker 
participation in the taking of relevant decisions; finally, creation of the ground for 
direct actions and struggles controlled from below.

The Meaning of the Cegielski Factory

Cegielski plant is one of the most famous plant in Poland. It was founded in 1846. For 
now, Cegielski produces in the first place various types of engines, among them 
ship-engines (while Poland is one of the leading producers of ships worldwide), as well as 
waggons and trams. For many years, Cegielski had been one of the biggest workplace in the 
western part of Poland. In the '70s, during the most productive years of the plant, more 
than 20 000 people were working here. In the beginning of 2009 there are 2 800 employees 
here. Its size and the importance for the regional economy were some of the main reasons 
why the class struggle has always been concentrating in Cegielski. The first strike took 
place here in 1872. In the period between the world wars (1918-1939), the workers of 
Cegielski undertook smaller and bigger actions, strikes and demonstrations many times. The 
first strike actions after the war started already in autumn 1945, and in 1956 workers of 
Cegielski initiated the militant proletarian insurgence which held for a few days and took 
over the whole of Poznan. In the militant clashes with forces of the Polish army and 
police around 70 protesters were killed. The next wave of protests in the plant took place 
in the '80s, however Cegielski did not play a leading role during the revolution of 1980.

In the '90s the situation in the plant had become quiet. On the one hand, the workers let 
themselves be scared with the threat of dismissal; on the other hand, salaries in 
Cegielski exceeded the average salaries in the country at this period. Only with the 
beginning of the new century the new protest actions started as a reaction to another wave 
of dismissals and radical decreases of the gains. In this period the Workers Initiative 
(IP) entered into the plant with the intention of the necessity to undertake a radical 
struggle for the interests of the workers.

Beginning of Workers Initiative at Cegielski

One of the first successes was a demonstration with the intention to stop the dismissals 
in June 2002. About 1000 workers from Cegielski and other plants in Poznan went to the 
streets. However, numerous actions did not manage to put an end to dismissals and gain 
decrease. But IP had gained quite wide support which e.g. resulted in the fact that one of 
its members, a lathe worker, Marcel Szary, was chosen in 2003, 2006 and 2009 by the whole 
plant workforce as its delegate for the enterprise management. He won very radically each 
time against the candidates of the big traditional trade unions present in the factory. At 
the same time, IP was still undertaking regular protest actions gaining improvements of 
work conditions and financial benefits in many issues. In spring 2006, IP undertook an 
attempt to organise a regular strike. The legal way of its organising did not work out. By 
use of threats, the management and the other trade unions managed to create a situation in 
which less than the necessary 50% of the workers participated in the strike referendum. 
Learning from this experience, activists of the IP in Cegielski decided on a radical 
change of tactics starting with a series of short wildcat strikes. These strikes often 
took the form of rallies during which the workforce was deciding together and directly 
about further developments.

"P?yta" ? a Form of Wildcat Strike

This strategy started on March 29, 2007. At this day, IP had called the management to 
start negotiations on wages. At the same time, IP from the beginning refused the 
possibility of leading the talks in the cabinets and offices (behind closed doors) and 
call the negotiations to take place in the workers' club on the area of the factory so 
that all interested workers could participate directly in the talks. For the first meeting 
about 200 workers appeared, but the management refused to come. The gathered workers then 
conducted an assembly and decided that on the next day they will conduct a so called 
"p?yta" ("platform/square") ? a term which in the jargon of Cegielski workers describes an 
informal break in the work during which the workers conduct the assembly. On March 30, 
2007, most of the employees of the morning shift participated in the "p?yta". As the 
management was still refusing participation in negotiations, the workers went out on the 
street and conducted a march to the management offices (about 1 km away from the gate of 
the factory). The next "p?yta" took place on April 3, 2007. On this day the chairman of 
the enterprise appeared and promised to begin the talks.

These have been the beginnings of the struggle. The management, however, was not giving up 
so easily. On April 16, 2007, the workers called by the IP did not come to work (90% of 
the staff) undertaking an "absence strike" using the possibility of taking a so called 
"leave on demand" (according to Polish Labour Code, every employee is allowed to demand 4 
days leave at any moment by simply informing the employer at the first day of the leave). 
It was then sort of a half-legal strike. At the same time, some hundreds of workers 
gathered on the square in front of the management offices in the morning hours in order to 
protest and demand increases.

These protests continued with different frequency until April 3, 2008. Altogether IP has 
organised 10 so called "p?yta" in this period, which have been between 20 min and 3 hours 
long, 5 demonstrations in which participated between 100-400 persons and one "absence 
strike" in which 90% of the personnel participated. As a result of this struggle which 
focused on the aspect of gains, the wages increased by about 700 zl (about 170 euro ? 
exchange rate: 12.11.2009) and an extra premium of 1000 zl (240 euro). At the beginning of 
2007 the average gross salary in Cegielski was about 2850 zloty (690 euro), so in about 
one year an increase of about 25% was achieved.

Repressions for "P?yta"

On November 3, 2009, the Polish court found Marcel Szary guilty of organizing and leading 
three wildcat strikes in Cegielski in 2008 and he was sentenced to a fine of 3 000 zl (730 
euro). Not only the state prosecution demanded to punish Szary, but also the bosses of the 
plant, who demanded a verdict of banning him to hold an office in the management of the 
factory. The court ultimately decided to limit the verdict to the financial fine.

It is worth noting that Marcel Szary (born in 1964) was a member of the Solidarity Trade 
Union since 1980. Between 1988-1991 he was a head of the plant-based Solidarity union in 
the W-2, the largest and most important department of the Cegielski factory that produces 
ship engines. In 2000, not agreeing with the conciliatory policy of Solidarity union, he 
gives up the membership of the union, and in June 2004, he starts a new union Workers' 
Initiative. Today he is still one of its key activists.

Result of the Crisies: 500 Workers Fired, a Demonstration of 4 000

In 2008, a very deep crisis erupted in Polish shipyards, which also had an influence on 
Cegielski, as ship engine production is one of the most important in the factory. Some 
time after that, the crisis influenced also shipyards in Germany and China, which also 
were major customers of Cegielski. This could be noticed in factory orders in the 
mid-2009. In June 2009, mass layoffs of about 500 workers were announced. Workers' 
Initiative began to organize protests (several pickets and demonstrations in front of the 
factory) against firing workers, while at that time other trade unions cooperated with the 
management. Only on October, 23, 2009 almost 4.000 workers from different trade unions 
(and various plants) took part in a demonstration in defense of workplaces. Also members 
of Wokers' Initiative and anarchists participated in the protest.

The demonstrators first gathered on the premises of the factory and then moved towards the 
Provincial Office. The common bloc of Workers' Initiative and Sierpien '80, together with 
the anarchists was chanting slogans such as ?Government out to the pavement, paving stones 
on the government?, ?One, two, three, four, stop those damn dismissals?, ?A worker 
dismissed, a boss hanged?, ?Capitalism isn't working! factories under the control of 
workers? etc. Rhythms of Resistance samba group from Poznan supported the demo with their 
rhythms. A banner saying ?A worker dismissed, a boss hanged? was dropped from one building 
on the route of the demo.

When the demonstration reached the Provincial Office, the leaders of Solidarnosc trade 
union were declaring a radical fight in defence of the workplaces and even ?burning the 
Office?, at the same time they were burning car tyres. When the IP members and anarchists 
joined the shipyard workers in the back of the office building clashes with the police 
broke out, then the shipyard workers retreated as they were told to by their leaders. 
Three policemen were hurt and some activists might expect the legal proceeding against 
them for and attack on the policemen.

The Present Situation

Workers' Initiative continues to fight to save jobs in the factory of Cegielski. We are 
also trying to organize the fired workers who stay unemployed in order to carry out the 
protest (for example to put pressure on the local government who at the moment is trying 
to increase prices of water and public transport in the city of Poznan). Unfortunately, 
the IP activists from Cegielski recently are facing repressions. In addition to the 
sentence of Marcel Szary, four workers active in the IP from its the very beginning were 
released. Therefore, we are also organizing support and protest against this repressions. 
This struggle is important not only to the crew of Cegielski, but to our all union, which 
basically was created and has developed through the activity of Cegielski workers.

12.11.2009

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* Anarcho-syndicalist Union
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