With the slogan Justice 4 Pawel, nearly 5,000 trade unionists worldwide spoke up through a LabourStart campaign against the dismissal of union leader Pawel Rudzki in the Netherlands. Last Friday, April 17th, Pawel won his case in court and won his job back. Finally there is Justice 4 Pawel !
Pawel and his colleagues thank you all!
Without your support, this victory would not have been possible. Together with the support from Dutch activists who organized countless actions at the shops of Albert Heijn, the supermarket that fired him from their warehouse, there was continued attention for his case and the judge had to face the reality of union opression against migrant workers like Pawel.
The judge rules that:
- It was not even allowed to hire Pawel via a temp agency for more than 3 years
- Pawel will get a permanent contract directly with the company, dating 5 years back
- Pawel will get reinstated in his old job with the security of a permanent contract
- Pawel will get back-payments for all missed salary that was caused by being a temp agency worker instead of directly employed
This means that for the first time in Dutch history a judge says clearly: using temp agency workers without job security is abuse of legal loopholes and not allowed if it lasts longer than 3 years.
Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in The Netherlands are in insecure agency jobs even though they work is available year round. With this ruling they stand strong to claim a secure contract.
Pawel says: “I knew this was wrong. It was long overdue that Dutch companies start giving us the respect that we deserve.”
Source: FNV.
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