Anonim, nie., 21/04/2019 - 12:43

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On April 9, the Regional Court for Warsaw Central District dismissed the case brought before it by the Polish Post Office against a member of ZSP – it's second attempt to criminally prosecute the comrade for his support of workers who have been organizing at the Post Office for the last few years.

The cases prepared by the Post Office (of course using public funds), read like conspiracy theory nonsense. They claimed, among other things, that providing a forum where workers could criticize the Post Office even posed a threat to national security (!), and they treated criticism of Solidarity Union as a criminal matter. It should be noted that the person in question is not employed at the Post Office but has been active in supporting the protests of the workers and their attempts to unionize, outside of the mainstream structures.

It seems that the court also was not too happy about the Post Office's use of public money to pursue nonsense cases in their union-busting efforts. In their justification they mentioned that some criticisms mentioned in the case were about individuals (like union bosses or concrete supervisors) and while they could bring a case against those who criticized them in the internet, this should be done individually and privately, not by the Post Office.

At the same time that this was a victory against the repressive practices of the Post Office, another person in Warsaw who has worked at the Post Office for decades was fired. We understand this to be a result of his union organizing although officially there were other reasons given, including criticizing Solidarity union. If it seems odd that management would fire somebody and give criticism of one of the unions acting there as an official reason, this is because such reasons are unjustified but show the real nature of the complicit nature of that union. A meeting was already held with the management of the Post Office regarding this case and we are trying to take action. At the same time, we are aware that the message they want to send is to intimidate workers.

The day before the meeting with management in Warsaw, a solidarity action was held in Wroclaw, in particular in support of Zbigniew who also was fired after 36 years of service for his union organizing activities. He is still fighting to have his dismissal recognized as unfair.

The union has spoken out numerous times about the repression organizing concrete support and solidarity. It firmly supports the demands of workers to improve their working conditions and to organize outside of the mainstream unions which have tended to work in conjuction with management as a force to dissuade protests and industrial action.