The rally took place in front of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s office in Warsaw, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Solidarity’s Edyta Odyjas told reporters that participants included staff from Polish tax offices, prisons, the state insurance office, courts, prosecution offices, provincial administration and police.
Solidarity activists placed 560 empty chairs outside the prime minister’s headquarters, designed to symbolise “the inactivity of Poland’s 460 MPs and 100 senators when it comes to public sector pay,” the PAP news agency reported.
They also produced photographs of the country’s last four prime ministers, including Morawiecki and the current opposition leader Donald Tusk.
Odyjas said: “This demonstration is intended to communicate our demand for systemic measures to raise our pay ... This issue must be resolved through appropriate regulations.”
Solidarity officials also stressed that there has been a spate of departures from Poland’s police force over pay and conditions.
As a result, in March there were 1,408 officer vacancies in the southern Silesia region, for instance, they told reporters.
The trade union issued a letter to the Polish prime minister, calling for “systemic measures to raise the pay of public sector workers,” the PAP news agency reported.
The union added that "the current public-sector pay rules are out of step with the changing social and economic situation.”
On September 15, Solidarity plans to stage a protest march from Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science to the prime minister’s office, featuring “thousands of public sector employees,” the PAP news agency reported.
Poland’s government last month approved the country's budget for 2024, which officials say carries funds for pay increases for government and public sector employees, including teachers, firefighters and police.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, gazetaprawna.pl