Members of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Polish Anarchist Society staged a picket outside the Polish Embassy in London on 29th November in solidarity with the militant factory workers from the Cegielski plant in Poznan, Poland.

A dozen or so activists hung a banner on the railings and leafleted the area in support of the sacked factory workers, who are also members of the Workers Initiative (Inicjatywa Pracownicza – IP, a Polish anrcho-syndicalist trade union.

The Polish workers asked for support for five IP activists sacked in October for organising in the workplace, along with an end to the repression against trade union activity, an end to the redundancies and negotiations to resolve all outstanding demands.

The Cegielski plant is one of the most famous plants in Poland; it was founded in 1846 and continues to manufacture maritime engines and parts. At its height in mid 1970s it employed over 20,000 workers, which today is reduced to just 2,800. IP have been active in the plant since the late 1990s and orchestrated a strategy of ‘plyta’ (‘platform/ square’) a form of wildcat strike.

An agreement was signed on 25th November 2009, by the Workers’ Initiative and the factory owners ending the dispute, and the five IP-activists, who had been illegally fired earlier, are set to return to work. The owners also recognised the union protection for the five activists. The IP have agreed to suspend protests while the management promised not to make further redundancies.