The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) has thrown its weight behind efforts to ensure that Polish truck drivers, who went on strike on 2 January, receive the wages and conditions they deserve. Some 350 drivers, represented by the Solidarnosc union and employed by trucking firm Norbert Dentressangle, walked out on strike in protest over the company’s refusal to start negotiations with the union on a collective agreement. The company’s Polish workers have seen no pay rise for four years. It has also been reported that they are enduring deplorable working conditions, such as poor sanitation and nutrition. When in July 2011 Solidarnosc insisted on collective bargaining, the company was reported to have intimidated workers, threatening them with dismissal.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/6885
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl or the communications officer of the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2012.