Getty Poles bleed for Britain Poles in the U.K. plan protests against negative stereotypes.

Polish workers in Britain may go on strike Thursday in protest at the negative stereotypes which they say belie their valuable contribution to society. But another group believe now is not the time to jeopardize community relations and have pledged to donate blood instead.

Both initiatives stem from frustrations first shared online by Polish immigrants who felt stigmatized and unfairly blamed for harming the U.K.'s economy.

Tomasz Kowalski, editor of the U.K. news site Polish Express, said momentum for some kind of protest on August 20 began with a comment on an article about Poles in the U.K..

“One of our readers wrote ‘don’t complain, let’s do something,'” Kowalski told POLITICO. “In England, Poles are also citizens of united Europe, and maybe people feel that money is important but good feeling is important too. Maybe the strike idea is because they don’t want to be second-class citizens.”

He gave the example of a Polish woman who was dismissed from her job at a fish factory in Scotland after breaking a ban on speaking languages other than English during work hours.

“Maybe this doesn’t happen every day to everyone, but we have information from our readers that there is something wrong with the treatment of Poles in the U.K.”

Kowalski said it was impossible to know how many would stop work Thursday because the strike movement had “no center point ... no one who can tell others a specific place, a specific time.” A Facebook event created by Polish Express has more than 1,000 attendees, and says “August 20 — rather than go to work — let's all go before the Parliament!”

“...Without the input and work ethic of the U.K.’s Polish community this country, or at least London, could grind to a halt within three hours” — John Zylinski, businessman.

A T-shirt in the red and white of the Polish flag which was created for the event reads: “Enough! Stop blaming us.”

Polmedics, a medical and dental clinic serving primarily Polish people across the U.K., will close its doors Thursday as an act of solidarity.

Joanna, a manager at Polmedics who declined to give her surname, told POLITICO: “We are not properly political and we are not going to the protest. We just want to be together with the Polish people so that’s why we are closing the practise that day.”

“We want to show we’re living here. We want to work here, have a family here, show we are needed here, live like in our home country.”

John Zylinski, a London-based businessman, wrote in a Guardian opinion piece that by striking, Poles “want to show that without the input and work ethic of the U.K.’s Polish community this country, or at least London, could grind to a halt within three hours.”

“We are also going on strike to protest against the rise of anti-Polish rhetoric in the media over the past few years, in particular as espoused by [United Kingdom Independence Party] leader Nigel Farage and the political crowd-pleasers who ape his views, among whom I count first and foremost David Cameron.”

Zylinkski gained notoriety for once challenging Farage to a sword duel in Hyde Park after Farage blamed migrants for causing traffic jams.

Yet some Poles in the U.K. fear the strike — which is not supported by a union — could be counter-productive.

Give blood

“We believe that the relations between Poles and Brits have been good lately and it is not yet the time to organise such a strike,” said the Facebook group, Don't strike, save lives!.

“Poles have enormously contributed to the British economy and are thankful to have many opportunities to work and study in the U.K.. Therefore, we are strongly encouraging all Poles in the U.K. to donate blood on the 20th August, instead of striking, to foster the British-Polish relations. The #polishblood campaign is another proof of the positive contribution of Polish migrants to the U.K..”

Tadeusz Stenzel, chairman of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain, told The Independent that possible repercussions from employers outweighed any benefits of a strike.

The blood donation campaign has so far attracted more than 2000 backers on Facebook, with donors posting images of themselves giving blood across the U.K.

An estimated 726,000 people with Polish citizenship live in the U.K., up from just 69,000 in 2004 when Poland joined the EU. They are the U.K.'s largest group of foreigners, making Polish its second most spoken language.

The Polish foreign ministry said it was “aware of the discussion around a possible strike of the Polish community in the UK” but that it was not involved in the “independent initiative.”

Instead, in a statement it explained “we simply cannot devalue the fact” that between 2001 and 2011 recent migrants from Europe made a positive net contribution to the U.K.'s public finances of £2,732 per person per year.

“The results of the Census 2011 show that Poles had the highest employment rate of any nationality living in Britain, including the British,” the foreign ministry added. “Despite this positive impact, there are still many stereotypes and prejudices concerning EU citizens that make use of the right of free movement, also to the U.K..”

It is a message newly-elected president Andrzej Duda was keen to convey as well.

“Please remember that Polish migrants bring more benefits than costs, British authorities should remember that,” Duda told POLITICO. “Very highly qualified people who were educated in Poland are leaving, and they are actually working for the benefit of the British economy and British society.”

UKIP did not respond to a request for comment.

Jan Cienski contributed to this article.