Sunday, April 02, 2006

Accusations of a conspiracy against the Polish government

From The Polish Outlook
It was recently reported by the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza that North Koreans were working as welders at the Stocznia shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. These workers toil long hours under the supervision of a Korean handler or manager. Their pay is sent to a bank account in North Korea. They live under very meager conditions.

The shipyard considers the North Koreans to be good workers. According to a shift supervisor at the Stocznia Gdanska shipyard, "They make perfect welders, they cause no problems, and they're never hung over."

The government labor inspector says that the workers are working in violation of the Polish labor laws. The matter has been turned over to the public prosecutor who is now investigating the matter.

The former Polish ambassador to North Korea said that even though this is a way for North Koreans to make more money than they would in North Korea, no country in the European Union should allow such a thing to happen.

But the Polish political party Law and Justice and Solidarity have accused the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza of provocation for printing a report about the issue. According to Solidarity, Gazeta Wyborcza is part of a larger conspiracy that is working to discredit the Law and Justice Party which party is controlling the only government that has tried to help the shipyard.

See Szef kancelarii: Prezydent nieswiadomie odznaczyl Jaruzelskiego

Is there something else going on that prompted the reaction from Solidarity and the Law and Just Party? Here is a report from Radio Polonia:

Only one buyer for the cradle of Solidarity -

The deadline to declare an intention to purchase the Stocznia Gdanska shipyard was yesterday. According to the Puls Biznesu daily, one offer was placed at 5pm, but it was not revealed which company stood behind it. It is possible the offer was placed by Norway's Aker. Puls Biznesu was unable to establish whether the Gdansk-based Energa entered the game, this state company expressed interest in buying the shares with the thinly-veiled interest to save the cradle of the Solidarity trade union from bankruptcy. Earlier reports also indicated the Japanese industrial-banking giant Mitsui as another possible buyer.