A-Infos (en) Poland, rozbrat Employee Initiative: IN THIS COUNTRY, IT IS THE WOMAN WHO PERFORMS THE FUNCTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY - INTELLIGENCE

"In this country, it is the woman who acts as social security." We publish an 
interview with carers from nurseries in Poznan about the women's strike. ---- In 
2011, you established an Employee Initiative committee associating female 
employees of nurseries in Poznan financed by the local government. What prompted 
you to start union activities? ---- Justyna Kurzawska: Nursery carers have not 
received a raise for 4 years, in addition, the new act extended our working time 
by half an hour, and our wages were still standing still. As formally independent 
workers, we wrote a letter to the then president of Poznan, Ryszard Grobelny, 
regarding pay rises. In response, we read that we will not get raises until 2032. 
First, we established an informal nursery agreement, the aim of which was to 
force the government to raise our wages. After several months of joint talks and 
contacts with city officials, who mainly showed us disrespect, we established an 
Employee Initiative committee. There were about one hundred nannies at the 
founding meeting. The initiative was the first union in nurseries in Poland. In 
addition to low wages, the problem was forcing us to do additional work, such as 
window cleaning and the lack of basic hygiene measures such as disposable gloves. 
We started our activity by entering into a collective dispute that ended at the 
mediation stage.

How are your contacts with the city authorities now?

Justyna: I earn about 2.5 thousand. PLN per month for 160 hours work involving 
caring for a group of children. Our wages are still outrageously low. Therefore, 
every year we waste time talking with officials and politicians so that the 
increases in the budget for the next year are included for us. At work, we are 
burdened with new responsibilities. The increase in the prices of the means of 
subsistence reduces the real value of our wages, and we are told every year that 
they have not reserved any money for us. After holding several meetings, we are 
usually able to force the authorities to raise a gross increase of PLN 100. The 
whole process of talks that we have to go through begins in September and ends at 
the beginning of the next year when the city's budget is adopted. This year, Vice 
President Solarski told us that we cannot count on any increase. Currently, the 
authorities explain the lack of wage increases as a raging pandemic. They say 
that companies are not operating and therefore tax revenues are falling. We do 
not get any increases, and at the same time the city authorities release 
entrepreneurs from part of the rents. During a pandemic, entrepreneurs get help 
from the city authorities, while we are forced to work for pennies. In total, 
there are about 400 people working in city nurseries and there is never any money 
for us.

For years, you have also been conducting activities that do not focus directly on 
company problems.

Agnieszka Zakrzewska-Matuszak: Our first street campaign took place in the winter 
of 2012. At that time, we blocked the tram tracks in the city center in order to 
draw public attention to our starvation wages. Before, no one paid any attention 
to us, as if our work did not exist at all. Currently, after years of activities, 
we are recognizable in the city.

In the same year, we participated in protests against the social cuts resulting 
from billions of expenses related to the organization of the Euro 2012 football 
tournament. I was in the front row of demonstrations against the city 
authorities, which allowed hundreds of millions to pass with a light hand for the 
event. Private business was going on, we didn't have enough until the first one, 
and parents had a problem with getting proper care for their children, because 
there were no places in nurseries. It has remained so until today. This protest 
was not just about wages in nurseries, but about the entire welfare sector, such 
as employees of nursing homes. At the main demonstration, we put up a large 
representation of babysitters. This, however, did not affect our wages. The 
previous president of Poznan raised them for us only once in the last year of his 
term of office before the elections. He never talked to us, possibly sending his 
deputies, he was openly anti-woman and anti-social. In 2014, Jacek Jaskowiak took 
the presidency. He pretends to be familiar with women's issues. The difference 
between the two is that Grobelny did his best to avoid any contact with us, and 
Jaskowiak's officials talk to us. Jaskowiak is also doing a lot to prevent us 
from getting raises. When we finally force him to give something, he always tries 
to keep the raises as low as possible. In total, during the 6 years of his rule, 
we received about PLN 750 gross in a raise. This shows how much he cares about 
keeping the wages of women employed by the city authorities low. The data on the 
amount of wages obtained by local government employees show that we earn almost 
the least. They say they understand everything

In 2018, we took part in the Social Congress of Women. This meeting was about the 
meeting of women who are fighting for higher wages and lower rents. We met with 
union activists who mainly worked in care professions, as well as with tenant 
activists. There are entire industries where mostly women work, and these are the 
industries with the lowest wages. So what if in these industries wages of men and 
women are at the same level, if the entire industry is at the bottom of wages. 
The problem we are experiencing is not the wage inequality between women and men 
within one industry, but the wage inequality between industries in the so-called 
female and male. It is known that no man works in nurseries, but if he does, he 
will earn as little as a woman. On the other hand, if you look at the work of 
local government officials, energy, IT specialists, and even construction, most 
of them work there for men and the wages are much higher than, for example, in 
the case of caring work performed mainly by women. We don't want to work for 
free. This meeting was of a more feminist nature, ie it was about improving 
women's working conditions and improving social security. In this country, it is 
the woman who performs the function of social security, which should be provided 
by the state and entrepreneurs. The Social Women's Congress was different from 
that of the Women's Congress, which is ruled by politicians and businesswomen. 
The problems of low wages and the lack of social security are not discussed 
there, because the main faces of this congress earn millions from low-paid 
women's work and try to hide these economic inequalities, persuading other women 
that the employee has the same interest as a businesswoman or politician. We 
believe that these interests are fundamentally contradictory.

Justyna: We also participated in the Black Protest in autumn 2018. There were a 
lot of women in Poznan, our friend spoke on it from the rostrum. We are also 
currently participating in the women's strike. We fight for access to abortion 
because its prohibition restricts women. Politicians already decide too much for 
us in other spheres of life. It's not their question when and whom we want to 
give birth to.

I don't think abortion is a good thing, but it is my business whether I do it or 
not. In my life, I would not give birth to a child with genetic defects. Forcing 
a woman to give birth to a child after rape is the same pathology as rape. 
Politicians are breaking all boundaries now, they want to destroy women.

Abortions are performed on a massive scale in Poland only illegally or legally 
abroad. In both cases, you need a lot of money for it. In practice, those of us 
who do not have money, mainly women with the worst jobs or those who are 
financially dependent on their husbands, have limited access to abortion. On the 
other hand, these richer aborted women have no problem at all. It is often the 
case that those women who cannot afford an abortion have to borrow to get rid of 
this problem. I have no Catholic views, but this is a problem of access to social 
security. No access to free abortion, no prenatal care, no access to 
contraception. The prohibition of abortion is not a matter of worldview but 
restricting social security. It is a matter of life. This economic position now 
determines

You were at demonstrations in Poznan, as well as at a nationwide demonstration in 
Warsaw. How was it?

Agnieszka: I am delighted. This idiot from Zoliborz was angry with women. A few 
idiots were fooled, for a while it was hot in Warsaw when they attacked us, but 
this crowd of women who are fighting for theirs gives hope. I talked to people 
from all over Poland, they were delighted just like me. People were a little 
scared, but we went together. I don't understand why some fans and hooligans fall 
for what the government says and take pride in being useful idiots. In nurseries, 
most of us are against limiting access to abortion, nurseries are covered with 
protest posters, and even parents make sure that the posters are not torn off. 
They get nervous when a poster disappears. Fathers and mothers could not believe 
that we had the strength and courage to protest in Warsaw. I asked my colleagues 
to write why they support the current protests. In these statements there is only 
regret and rage: "Fuck PiS", "Get the fuck out, I'm not an incubator", "We are 
not breeding cows", "I support protests, because young people have to have a 
choice", "I don't want a bachelor with a cat to rule me "," I don't want to live 
in a country where the health service is inefficient "," the church is not ruled. 
" We ourselves must fight for better working conditions and abortion. There is a 
total regression in Poland in these matters. In the 1970s, the health service 
performed an abortion for free. We ourselves must fight for better working 
conditions and abortion. There is a total regression in Poland in these matters. 
In the 1970s, the health service performed an abortion for free. We ourselves 
must fight for better working conditions and abortion. There is a total 
regression in Poland in these matters. In the 1970s, the health service performed 
an abortion for free.

Are these, in your opinion, feminist demonstrations?

Justyna: I'm not an avid feminist, but I don't like it when you say that a woman 
has to cook, clean the house, iron the house. I do not want to be condemned to 
look after the child. Am I supposed to work so that men would lie down? For me, 
this initiative is not a feminist union, but a union that supports the struggles 
of working women.

Agnieszka: There are a few women who, for example, got to the Sejm on the wave of 
these female protests, they are probably feminists. They never helped us. Why do 
we need feminists in the Seym when I do not see their actions directly improving 
the situation of women in workplaces.

https://www.rozbrat.org/publicystyka/walka-klas/4747-w-tym-kraju-to-kobieta-pelni-funkcje-zabezpieczenia-spolecznego-wywiad
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