Labour Problems? Shut Down the Factory!

Logstor is a Danish company which produces pipe systems. It has factories around Europe and in China and is involved in joint ventures in Korea and UAE. In Poland there is a factory in Elblag. They also have factories in Zabrze, Gliwice and Zory.

Last month there was a rather serious labour conflict in the Elblag factory. Workers were not given bonuses they were promised for 2007. A dispute started at the end of April and on Sept. 2 a strike started. Workers in the factory say that there have been different problems going on for years. A "Solidarity" union exists in the factory.

The factory was profitable and even had some growth and improvements in efficiency.

The strike action lasted over a month. During the whole time, some psychological warfare was being played against the workers that they could all lose their jobs. Last week, a group of about 60 workers (out of 204), apparently lost their nerve and turned on the head of the union. (He was also the head of the works council.) The workers claimed (falsely) that the strike was not supported by the "majority" of workers, even though the majority did not sign this letter and a strike referendum was held. They started to demand the strike be stopped, the head of the Works Council be dismissed. They claimed that this was needed to save their jobs.

The strike was suspended the next day.

Yesterday, the shareholders of the company voted to close down the factory.

Jobs will be moved to Zabrze and to Denmark.

The company predicts that it will increase its employment in Poland next year. It claims that the move to close down the factory has "nothing to do with the strike". It also claimed that since they would be moving production to a more "efficient" factory in Silesia (Zabrze), this means that they would be able to hire more workers with the money they save.