Protest makes front page headlines after unfair dismissals in Elblag

About 1,000 people in Elblag protested against unfair treatment by employers. They are furious at the decision to lay-off almost 100 seamstress in the Hetman company on disciplinary grounds. According to the employees, the women were dismissed because they tried to set up a trade union in order to help claim their long overdue wages. The president of Hetman, Jan Przezpolewski, justifies the lay-offs by saying that the women stopped working for 90-minutes without any reason, which resulted in substantial losses for the company. The seamstresses explained they were simply waiting to talk to Przezpolewski who did not show up and they were going to work overtime to make up for the loss. The State Labour Inspector declared that the employees' rights were violated. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A6, Gazeta Wyborcza, p.1) M.M.