Piotr Duda, the head of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity”, has not taken a position on the issue that the whole of Poland is talking about today for several days. The leader of the largest trade union organization in Poland has not yet commented on how the presidential veto on the SAFE program will affect Polish arms plants, which were to produce new equipment for the Polish Army using the loan money.
For Polish defense plants, the new contracts were supposed to be a chance for great development. A group of 11 plants producing equipment for the army assured this in a joint statement issued on February 26.
Meanwhile, Piotr Duda has recently disappeared from the media. The last article with his statements was published 5 days ago by “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”. The chairman of Solidarity commented there on the union’s lack of support for the draft amendments to the Act on Commercial Sundays created by PiS.
“Request from HQ”
In this situation, we tried to talk about the mood of defense sector workers with trade union activists in this industry. The headquarters of the National Section of the Armaments Industry of NSZZ “Solidarność” is located in Skarżysko-Kamienna, next to the local MESKO plant. The unit is headed by chairman Paweł Stanik. He was elusive for us for almost the entire Monday.
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One of Stanik’s closest collaborators in the section is Witold Sieczkoś, the leader of Solidarity at the Huta Stalowa Wola plant, which produces for the army.
– Please forgive me. No bad emotions, but I won’t comment on it. You are not the first journalist who tries to persuade me to talk, but I refuse everyone, says Sieczkoś in an interview with Onet.
— This request came from the union headquarters. This is not an issue for the trade union to comment on. This SAFE program is a key decision for our country, but it must be dealt with by the bodies constitutionally established to make such strategic decisions. This is the Sejm, the president and the government. Let them debate there and we wait for the final decisions on whether Poland will take out this loan or not, he adds.
When asked by us, Chairman Sieczkoś admits that he has his own assessment of the presidential veto announcement, but he does not want to reveal it. However, he points out that opinions about the president’s move are strongly divided among the staff of the MESKO Skarżysko-Kamienna plant.
It was only in the evening that Chairman Stanik wrote to us. As he informed, the National Section of the Armaments Industry of NSZZ “Solidarność” adopted a position in which it neither supports nor denies the SAFE program.
“We have our concerns, which we write about in our position paper, but for now, apart from the Chancellery of the President, no one is answering our questions,” we read in a message from a trade unionist.
Details are to be announced tomorrow.
“Poland must arm itself today and quickly”
We also talked to one of the activists of the trade union existing in the former Autosan factory in Sanok. Today, it is a branch plant of Huta Stalowa Wola, which produces semi-trailers for military trucks and their chassis.
Our interlocutor from Sanok is not a member of Solidarity, but of another, smaller trade union. Despite this, he also stipulates that he cannot speak under his name.
The former Autosan factory in Sanok is today a branch of Huta Stalowa Wola. This plant was also supposed to receive orders financed from the SAFE loan
— Opinions regarding the fact that President Nawrocki vetoed this program are in fact strongly divided in our plant. There are people who are devastated by this and there are also people who are very happy about the veto, says an activist from Sanok.
— I belong to the first group myself. In my opinion, the money pumped into the Polish defense industry would be quickly recouped. Nobody talks about it, but it would be like that and I hope it will be like that again. New jobs will be created for many years. In addition, the geopolitical situation in the world actually is what it is. Poland must arm itself today and quickly. That’s why I personally think what the president is doing is wrong. He should cooperate with the government on this issue, he says.
“This money and new contracts would be useful to us”
The situation in Silesia also confirms the fact that trade unionists have lost their minds regarding SAFE for now. Here too, most Solidarity activists are elusive or refuse to talk unless they are guaranteed anonymity.
– Of course we would benefit from this money and new contracts – says one of the activists and employees at Bumar-Łabędy in Gliwice. The modernization included, among others: Leopard tanks. — I understand President Nawrocki’s arguments, but the arms industry really requires such an injection of money. All of us in this factory hoped that good times were coming for us now, he adds.
I hear even more blunt words in Wieluń. This is a city in the province. Łódź Province is the seat of Wielton. This is a large company that builds trailers for trucks. However, the recent leader of Polish industry has been having major financial problems for several months.
At the end of last year, Wielton established the Wielton Defense company, which was to fulfill orders for the army. Here, it was also hoped that contracts financed by SAFE for the army would allow the plant to survive the difficult moment on the automotive market and retain the entire staff.
— No one here has been sure about tomorrow for many months. Recently, the company returned PLN 70 million from the KPO, for which it was supposed to carry out robotization in the production hall. This happened because we did not have our own PLN 70 million for “own share”. The management is doing what they can, but there are fewer and fewer orders for new trailers. We really hoped that these contracts with SAFE would be a way for us to recover financially and avoid layoffs, says one of the employees of the Wieluń factory.
