At a protest there a few days earlier, a letter was delivered to the ambassador from the British Isles Regional Organising Committee of the Industrial Workers of the World which has a formal solidarity alliance with the Workers' Initiative trade union in Poland. It had demanded the re-employment of the sacked stewards, an end to the repression against trade union activity, an end to the redundancies and negotiations to resolve all outstanding demands.

At 5.30pm on Friday, when the picket started, there were only a few people inside the embassy and the main doors were locked. But the protest was noticed, and at one point a man, probably a caretaker, opened a window and came out on to the balcony and spoke to the demonstrators, telling them to go away.

Cegielski in Poznan, Poland, was one of the largest factories in the country. Founded over 160 years ago and now state-owned, it produces engines of various types and sizes, from large marine engines down to small two-strokes. At its peak in the 70s it employed more than 20,000 but the workforce is now around 2800.

Ince 2002, Workers' Initiative (Inicjatywa Pracownicza – IP) has been organising in the plant, gaining widespread support among the workers as the traditional trade unions proved ineffective.

Since 2007, the workers in the IP have taken a number of wildcat actions by assembling during working hours in a factory yard and demanding to speak to the management; these "pyta" have lasted from around 20 minutes to three hours. They have also taken advantage of the Polish labour Code which allows employees to take 4 days leave on demand simply by informing the employer on the first day of absence to hold "absence strikes" in which around 90% of the workers took part.

These actions have led to significant wage increases for the workers, but one of the key activists, Marcel Szary, a former Solidarity plant leader, a founder of IP, and the elected workforce representative at the plant was found guilty of organising wildcat strikes and fined.

In October 2009, five IP stewards were sacked at Cegielski shortly after informing the employer that they had sufficient support among the workers to rrepresent them and claim protection for the representatives under the Union laws. The IP had started a dispute to save jobs and demand payment of unpaid wages and severance payments.

On Friday 25 Novemebr an agreement was signed by IP and the employers which ended the dispute. The five sacked stewards were re-instated and recognized under the law. The management also agreed not to make further redundancies, to pay workers for stoppage time in accordance with the Labour Code, and not to reduce wages during this year. In return IP agreed to suspend protests.

You can read more about the factory and the dispute in two English-language postings on the Workers Initiative web site.
 http://www.ozzip.pl/english/20-latest-news/926-cegielski-factory-in-crisis

 http://www.ozzip.pl/english/20-latest-news/948-25-11-2009-cegielski-end-of-the-collective-dispute-workers-activists-could-return-to-work