Border guards protesting over transfers to eastern borders

Over the past two weeks, border guards have been holding nationwide protests. Customs officials claim that during the process of reallocation, that is transferring them to the eastern border from the western and southern borders as well as from central Poland, the government has not fulfilled earlier agreements it made with trade unions. Officials who do not want to be transferred to the East, are currently being sacked without any additional compensation. The Finance Ministry argues that the relocated officials should be glad that they have kept their jobs. Due to the increasing vehemence of the protests, the Ministry has sent letters to top customs officials demanding that they punish those who, "Disrupt the normal functioning of the offices." In addition, on Wednesday morning the Ministry forbade all custom officials from talking to journalists. So far, only 160 custom officials have agreed to be move to the eastern border. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) A.K.