New Szczecin Shipyard workers renew industrial action

While Andrzej Stachura, President of the New Szczecin Shipyard (Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa- SSN) renegotiates contracts for chemical tankers, the yard's Protest Committee decided on Monday to start a sit-in strike. Employees of the bankrupt shipyard and companies of the holding threatened to suspend work on ship-building, while employees of SSN did not join the protest. According to Janusz Gajek, head of the Protest Committee, there is no financing for new ships and no schedule for the payment of delayed wages or for increasing employment, while the committee wants 5,500 to be employed in SSN. Meanwhile, the president of the shipyard, who is currently in Norway, sent a letter to the yard on Monday in which he claimed that SSN has already concluded a contract for building two ships for a Vietnamese shipowner, has applied for further government guarantees to construct another five vessels and that the initial capital of the company has been raised by zl. 60 million. Stachura added that the company had admitted 250 new workers and a further 250 are to be hired this week. Economy Minister Jacek Piechota reacted to the strike by saying, "Every threat of suspending production at SSN means a decrease in credibility and a signal to shipowners and banks that this company has no chance of becoming successful." According to Prawo i Gopodarka's own sources, banks are generally no longer interested in assisting the shipyard, preferring instead to focus on rescuing the ailing Gdynia Shipyard. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 3) P.W.