Polish Bus Drivers' Quasi-Victory

Anarchist and libertarian news agencies around the world have had news of a victorious bus drivers' strike in Poland. Although some people think that the drivers "have control" over the company, what they really have is a bunch of stocks and a business in debt which will have to be restructured.

For those who haven't read anything about this, bus drivers in Kielce went on strike action after the city announced its plans to sell the municipal bus company to private investors. The drivers fought bravely, even when cops and private security guards came to rough them up. 17 days into the strike, after workers had even managed to occupt offices and had to be violenty removed, the mayor, who had vowed never to give into the strikers, suddenly announced that the workers could run the company and that they'd be guaranteed a monopoly in the city (despite the fact that this isn't legal).

For those workers' activists who support the capitalist workers' shareholder schemes called workers' companies, this means that "the workers had the company in their own hands". The reality of the matter is a little different.

Unfortunately, most reprints of this information cut out the authors caveat; even the fans of workers' companies added a note that it has yet to be seen what will come of this. As they should: activists of this group who were working under a similar scheme got fucked and the main guy even was fired from the "workers' company" which in fact got, like most of them do, dominated and run by the former managers and new investors.

Although we can say that the bus company in Kielce probably will not be sold to an "outside investor", and thus some people may avoid losing jobs in the short term, the following puts a different light on the picture:

According to Polish privatisation law, when a "workers' company" is formed, this means that 15 per cent of shares are given to the workers for free. A company of this sort can be a worker-management partnership or a partnership with an outside investor. Even where workers are to have at least 51 per cent of shares, this does not mean any real collective workers control. Richer workers, with capital, can purchase more shares becoming majority shareholders. Workers with little money often chose to sell their shares after an obligatory holding period.

What about the price of the shares? Well, the company has to be valuated. What if the workers can't afford the shares? The deal can fall through.

Initial estimates have been made for the Kielce bus company and prices are high. The restructurers from the union now are raiding the workers' aid funds (left for those who have accidents or are sick) to pay for the capital. Good thing that the companies or unions don't control pension funds here - they'd be the first to be raided.

What about debts? Well, turns out the workers have to pay them off. Usually they have to go to a bank which gives them loans -if they adopt a restructuring plan. They have to usually pay off debts over 10 years. During this time, the enterprise usually has to undergo austerity programs which can mean lower wages for the suckers who are paying off the company's debts.

Such a privatized company now can no longer have losses, especially has it will have to repay its debts or have its property foreclosed.

Most recently economists have calculated that with this bus company's costs, to reduce losses and repay debts, 150 of the 600 bus drivers - that it 25% of the staff, will have to be fired. And that's what probably will happen - because that's what's happened in similar cases. If costs rise, additional people may have to be fired.

Although there are no municipal bus companies using this form of ownership in Poland, many local intercity bus companies have this structure and it usually doesn't work too well for the workers. In many cases, the introduction of a workers' company has led to many firings and the hiring of new wage laborers. At least in one bus company, worker "owners" (each with a miniscule share), were fired and rehired as independent contractors after being forced to register their own companies!

Unfortunately, many people don't have basic information about these schemes or are so desperate to keep their jobs that this all seems like a good idea to them.

Not to mention the fact that they don't know the difference between workers' cooperative self-management (based on the principles of equality, not capital) and worker participation in capital.

The "victory" here is that the workers kept fighting despite everything, and acted in solidarity. In this case, we admired the workers in this struggle and see it as a victory in spirit. But is it a real victory?

We hope that something good will come out of this all, but I personally am very sceptical given the sad history of such schemes. Most of them wind up in the hands of the old management who either fuck the workers or sell off all the assets and liquidate. The statistics on this are very sad and show how the overwhelming majority of all these schemes ended up in the hands of management or liquidated by management. We know that many people made a fortune by getting rid of the workers, by forcing the company into the ground and getting them to sell their tiny stocks for nothing - and then selling or renting assets like real estate. Some people from Solidarity were even involved in such scams, including people related to the Kaczynskis.