Marcel Szary, an activist of Workers' Initiative Trade Union in Cegielski factory, died today morning. He was  one of the founders of the union. It is a huge loss for the syndicalist and workers' movement in Poland.

On 05. January 10 Workers' Initiative activists and Collar Textill shop committee representatives visited city office in Opatów. Workers were cheated by employer. They expect support form local government. They fight for they remunerations and other perks which are still not payed.

There are also actions to save even some workplaces in Collar Textil factory. This company was one of the largest employers district Opatów. Workers talk about cooperative creation. WI help them to realize this project successfully. It could save some workplaces.

On 10 December  2009 workers from Collar Textil started the occupation of the plant in Opatów. It began when the workers had decided to prevent the disposal of tools, engines and textile stuff. WI directly supports this action. Former manager tried to steal the property of the company. The policemen who were brought to the plant were more interested in former director's application who suggested that she was unlawfully deprived of freedom. By the way policemen did not check if she was authorized to be there. The other former director was in the premises as well and he denied to have been imprisoned. He signed a paper that he had spent over 12 hours in the factory volontuarily.

After an agreement was signed on November 25, 2009, by the Workers' Initiative (IP) and HCP SA (the owner of the Cegielski factory) the collective dispute ended, and the five IP-activists, who had been illegally fired earlier, could return to work. HCP SA also recognized the union protection for the five activists. The Workers' Initiative agreed to suspend protests while the management promised not to make further redundancies.

Two wildcat strikes took place today, first in the Fabryka Pojazdow Szynowych in Poznan, a plant owned by HCP (Cegielski) company, and the second one in the Wagon factory in Ostrow, a railway rolling-stock producer and repairer factory. In both cases, the workers demanded payment of wage arrears. They also claim that their protest may have more radical forms in the future.