Protest in front of Animex Foods in Szczecin. Employees defend their jobs

On Wednesday, May 7, a protest organized by NSZZ "Solidarność" took place in front of the headquarters of the Agryf company - the Szczecin branch of the Animex Foods concern. The picket began at 2 p.m. and gathered several dozen people, including employees from the plants in Morliny and Świnoujście, representatives of the OPZZ and "Solidarność" trade unions, and the employees of the Szczecin plant themselves.

The reason for the protest was the dismissal of 24 employees from one of the production departments. According to union members, those dismissed include people with many years of experience – some have worked at the plant for over 40 years.

- These are people who came to work after school and stayed here their whole lives. Today, just before the holidays, they find out that they are redundant - says Dariusz Głogowski, chairman of the company's "Solidarity".

Unionists accuse the employer of cutting jobs as a result of a policy of saving at the expense of full-time employees. According to them, the tasks of those dismissed were taken over by external companies, employing people - often from abroad - on contracts for services.

- We are not against foreigners. In our plant, many employees from Ukraine work on fair terms. But outsourcing work and hiring people for contracts, 12-14 hours a day, is a violation of standards and circumvention of labor law - adds Głogowski.

The protesters are demanding the reinstatement of those dismissed and a change in the company's HR policy. They are demanding a reduction in cooperation with external companies and ensuring stable employment for full-time employees.

Despite the presence of many people and numerous banners with slogans: "We want work and a decent life", no representative of the company's management appeared to talk to the protesters. Workers leaving the first shift also joined the gathering to express solidarity with their colleagues. Some of the protesters later returned for the second shift.

There was no shortage of voices of bitterness in the crowd.

"We are learning from one day to the next that our work no longer counts. We are not numbers on a table - we are people with experience who have built this plant for years," says one of the employees, who asked not to be named for fear of losing his job.

"Instead of talking to us, the company chooses outsourcing and junk contracts. We feel disregarded and invisible. We are afraid for the future, but we are even more afraid to keep quiet," adds another person who has worked at the plant for over 20 years.

At the end of the protest, unionists submitted a petition to the plant's director, Ryszard Kolenda. Przemysław Mazur, acting chairman of the NSZZ "Solidarność" Regional Board, emphasized that the union would monitor the situation and did not rule out further actions if the employees' demands were ignored. ©℗

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Film directed by Dariusz Gorajski