Failing to act for fear of the unions

The EU is not solely responsible for the situation of the shipyards, writes Igor Janke of the conservative newspaper Rzeczpospolita, commenting that Poland has long failed to act for fear of the unions: "Regardless of whether the bureaucracy in Brussels is acting rightly or wrongly, the matter of the Polish shipyards has been dragging on for years now. None of the many Polish governments has been able to find a solution. ... Since hordes of miners showed up in Warsaw with their pickaxes, no one has had the courage to take on the big unions. ... The state railways, the mines and the shipyards have remained low-profit enterprises. All of the shipyards should be private, like Stocznia Gdańsk. This example shows that Brussels supports private enterprises. But the shipyards have remained in public hands, either because people are too much in awe of their historic and symbolic value as the 'cradle of Solidarność', or because they are intimidated by the strong unions."

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