Disabled women fight to keep their jobs at a hospital in Poland

A group of workers have been sitting in at the Belchatow Hospital and demanding to go back to work. ---- On May 24 we protested in front of their workplace. 60 women have found themselves suddenly without any income after the contractor was changed at the hospital and they were not transferred to the new company. ---- The women are cleaners and meal servers at the hospital and most have worked there many years. Such workers used to be directly employed by the hospital, but out-sourcing has become very popular in the last ten years in Poland. When outsourced, their jobs become much more precarious and on worse working conditions. Although there are laws related to the transfer of employees, companies often ignore them, as was in this case.

The workers were employed through a firm called Naprzod from Krakow which is supposed to be a ¨cooperative¨ for people with disabilities. All of the women working at the hospital have some form of disability, usually minor, that does not interfere with their work at all. Employers get some tax incentives for employing people in this category.

New actions are planned against the entities which are involved in the situation.

In the meanwhile, the workers keep showing up at the hospital but fear the management will soon use force to block them.

Those who would like to show solidarity can send protest emails through the form at soli.zsp.net.pl

* http://www.iwa-ait.org/sites/default/files/documents/iwa_external_bulletin_no.8_june_2014.pdf