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Polish airline strike continues despite mass sacking

FLIGHT cancellations continued at LOT Polish Airlines today as workers refused to back down despite 67 of their colleagues being sacked.

Trade unions at the country’s flagship airline have been striking since last Thursday following the dismissal of Monika Zelazik, the cabin crew union’s lead organiser.

The company claims Ms Zelazik had encouraged fellow trade unionists to bring “weapons and explosives” onto company premises, but her colleagues say she was sacked for trade union activity. Unions are engaged in collective action over the airline’s bid to impose new contracts that would define staff as self-employed.

The company has declined to hire staff on permanent contracts since 2013, with workers recruited since then not entitled to sick or holiday pay.

On Monday it fired 67 workers for “absences” which staff say were cases of legal strike action. The pilots’ and cabin crew unions’ lawyer Karol Sadowski said the mass sacking was “a form of bullying” and workers are now demanding that all their dismissed colleagues be rehired.

A worker contacted the Communist Party of Britain’s Facebook page to alert British trade unionists to the strike.

The source later told the Morning Star that office staff had been organised by the airline to mount an anti-strike demonstration, chanting “Get back to work” at the strikers. They said some had received payment for doing so and that strikebreakers were receiving time-and-a-half.

Airline spokesman Adrian Kubicki said management had offered to talk to the striking workers, but these had insisted on the negotiations being carried out by their union reps.

“The strikers are not responding to our invitation. Management is surprised by this,” he said.

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