Coke, PepsiCo meeting the new generation of united workers
But that's what happened. With support from the AFL-CIO in Washington and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), he helped shepherd into reality a complex project that contributed to shaping labor laws and bargaining frameworks within 13 regions of Poland.
The four-year effort that concluded last fall enlisted Polish economists, lawyers, negotiators and academics who were specialists on laws affecting the work force. For much of that time, they worked alongside Solidarity activists. The so-called experts held training sessions throughout the regions.
It was part of the unusual fabric of Poland and its transition. The reformers were all on the same side while they put in place the framework for basic laws which, down the road, would lead to at least some of them being on the opposite side in "normal" adverserial labor-management negotiations.
Waske had been a local union president in the Seattle area, which had a rich experience with regard to union-management negotiations, partly because of the overwhelming presence of aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
His first 16-day trip into Poland was as part of a sister-city mission from Seattle to Gdynia. "Lech Walesa was pulling people in. We developed very close relations with Gdynia," he said. "There were four or five Solidarity delegations to Seattle, meetings with Boeing and trade missions to Poland."
He was among the Seattle officials who flew in for the dedication of a Boeing plane called the "Gdansk," in honor of the city that spawned the Solidarity movement. Also included were congressional and city-elected officials, other labor union leaders, business leaders from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and many, many Solidarity leaders.
And of course, one of the contacts dating from that time which proved valuable was the then-pacesetting mayor of Gdynia, Franciszka Cegielska, now health minister. Her husband, Jacek Cegielski, was head of the maritime division of the Solidarity union.
Waske had a mandate that stretched long and wide. It included the AFL-CIO's concern that the Solidarity union was specializing in politics at the expense of getting serious about organizing or persuading existing factory workers, as well as newcomers, as to why they should be interested in remaining or becoming a union member.
"The attitude initially by Solidarity was something along the lines of, 'We have to tell people they should be joining us? That's what we were opposing - to be told you HAVE to join OPZZ." OPZZ is the union created by the former communist government when martial law was imposed and Solidarity banned.
Now, Waske said, "one of six executive committees is in charge of organizing, and they have organizing going on. They have put a priority on organizing the hypermarkets."
Those in charge include Krzysztof Zgoda and Janusz Sniadek, from the Gdynia shipyard and head of overall organizing activities.
Some of the multinational giants who saw little or no union activity in their first decade in Poland probably will notice the change. For instance, Waske said, there is a tense situation currently with major U.S. soft-drink bottling companies. "They have an adversarial relationship with PepsiCo and Coca-Cola."
He said that in Szczecin there is a major battle with the PepsiCo bottling plant, with Solidarity alleging that Polish managers fired the union organizer. "Told that they can't do that, the guy in charge told the workers, 'Okay, who wants to be fired next?'"
Waske left this summer, at least for now. There is much he'd still like to do. The most urgent is bringing employers, employees and the government together to explore models of "a tripartite system" to attack endemic workplace problems such as alcoholism.
He envisions packaging "resources from government, the Health Ministry and the union."
"What got me interested in this were these billboards on battered wives - the first campaign on domestic violence," he said. The billboards proved to be controversial hot spots for much of Polish society, including especially the Catholic Church, but Waske notes that the groups and agencies dealing with domestic violence (and the underlying problem of alcoholic spouses) "got 100 times as many calls as before."
The four-year effort that concluded last fall enlisted Polish economists, lawyers, negotiators and academics who were specialists on laws affecting the work force. For much of that time, they worked alongside Solidarity activists. The so-called experts held training sessions throughout the regions.
It was part of the unusual fabric of Poland and its transition. The reformers were all on the same side while they put in place the framework for basic laws which, down the road, would lead to at least some of them being on the opposite side in "normal" adverserial labor-management negotiations.
Waske had been a local union president in the Seattle area, which had a rich experience with regard to union-management negotiations, partly because of the overwhelming presence of aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
His first 16-day trip into Poland was as part of a sister-city mission from Seattle to Gdynia. "Lech Walesa was pulling people in. We developed very close relations with Gdynia," he said. "There were four or five Solidarity delegations to Seattle, meetings with Boeing and trade missions to Poland."
He was among the Seattle officials who flew in for the dedication of a Boeing plane called the "Gdansk," in honor of the city that spawned the Solidarity movement. Also included were congressional and city-elected officials, other labor union leaders, business leaders from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and many, many Solidarity leaders.
And of course, one of the contacts dating from that time which proved valuable was the then-pacesetting mayor of Gdynia, Franciszka Cegielska, now health minister. Her husband, Jacek Cegielski, was head of the maritime division of the Solidarity union.
Waske had a mandate that stretched long and wide. It included the AFL-CIO's concern that the Solidarity union was specializing in politics at the expense of getting serious about organizing or persuading existing factory workers, as well as newcomers, as to why they should be interested in remaining or becoming a union member.
"The attitude initially by Solidarity was something along the lines of, 'We have to tell people they should be joining us? That's what we were opposing - to be told you HAVE to join OPZZ." OPZZ is the union created by the former communist government when martial law was imposed and Solidarity banned.
Now, Waske said, "one of six executive committees is in charge of organizing, and they have organizing going on. They have put a priority on organizing the hypermarkets."
Those in charge include Krzysztof Zgoda and Janusz Sniadek, from the Gdynia shipyard and head of overall organizing activities.
Some of the multinational giants who saw little or no union activity in their first decade in Poland probably will notice the change. For instance, Waske said, there is a tense situation currently with major U.S. soft-drink bottling companies. "They have an adversarial relationship with PepsiCo and Coca-Cola."
He said that in Szczecin there is a major battle with the PepsiCo bottling plant, with Solidarity alleging that Polish managers fired the union organizer. "Told that they can't do that, the guy in charge told the workers, 'Okay, who wants to be fired next?'"
Waske left this summer, at least for now. There is much he'd still like to do. The most urgent is bringing employers, employees and the government together to explore models of "a tripartite system" to attack endemic workplace problems such as alcoholism.
He envisions packaging "resources from government, the Health Ministry and the union."
"What got me interested in this were these billboards on battered wives - the first campaign on domestic violence," he said. The billboards proved to be controversial hot spots for much of Polish society, including especially the Catholic Church, but Waske notes that the groups and agencies dealing with domestic violence (and the underlying problem of alcoholic spouses) "got 100 times as many calls as before."
