Picket at Lionbridge office in Dublin

dublin | worker & community struggles and protests | event notice Wednesday June 25, 2008 23:15 by ZSP - ZSP info at zsp dot net dot pl

An international day of action against sacking a union organizer by Lionbridge Poland

In December 2007, workers in the Polish office of Lionbridge - a multinational translation company - created a trade union based on non-hierarchical principles – KFP. On Feb. 12, 2008, Jakub G., a workplace union representative in Lionbridge Poland, was summarily dismissed.

The dismissal came shortly after the announcement to management that a union had been formed in the workplace and despite the fact that Jakub was protected by Polish Labor Law as an elected union representative.

Jakub was warned by members of the management that having a union would make the company "less competitive". The reason given for Jakub's dismissal was "damaging the company's image" by writing an article which was published on the Internet. No proof of that allegation was given, and in fact another person has admitted to writing the article. The article in question was in fact based entirely on information publicly available on the internet.

Incidents of firing union members in disregard of the law are fairly common in Poland, including firing protected union officials. Most often summary dismissals are given shortly after the creation of a union.

Jakub has filed a court case against Lionbridge at the Polish Labour Court. The first hearing will take place on July 4th. Pickets are planned in front of different Lionbridge offices around the world in the coming weeks, including Dublin.

JOIN A WEEK OF ACTIONS AGAINST UNFAIR UNION-BUSTING POLICIES OF LIONBRIDGE TECHNOLOGIES!

The picket organized by the Workers Solidarity Movement will take place on:
Friday, July 4th at 1PM
in front of the Lionbridge office:
3 West Pier Business Campus Dun Laoghaire, Dublin

Contact: wsm_ireland@yahoo.com