It was a good idea to join the union
It was a Danish colleague who encouraged Robert Majewski, Polish building worker employed in Denmark, to approach the union in order to rectify some disagreements he had with his employer about his wages.
This took place 4 months ago and Robert Majewski has not regretted listening to this advice - even though in fact it was repeated several times.
The advice has left him with a fatter wallet, and it is a bit more fun being away from his family many weeks at a time. A good many of his Polish colleagues have followed his example and joined the union.
I have always been used to looking after myself and found it difficult to believe that the union could help us. But they could, and he now admits that he’s happy.
Robert Majewski is employed by the Danish employment agency Carata which also has provided him with a work permit through the Danish Immigration Service. In the first instance he was hired out to various small building firms, but for almost 6 months he has been working for the demolition company, Kingo Karlsen A/S, which is undertaking demolition work in Copenhagen Central Station.
It’s hard, dirty work, and it’s night work. My contention is that you can't get Danes to work for the minimum wages we’re getting. Therefore, it was even more frustrating that we didn’t even get what we were entitled to, he says.
The minimum wage mentioned is just a little over kr. 101 per hour.
Many breaches of agreement
After a couple of months in Denmark Robert said in his own words that he plucked up courage and in the middle of June he went to 3F. He waded into the Head Office in Kampmannsgade where the Building & Construction Group put him in touch with the Copenhagen Branch of 3F: BJMF (Building, Energy & Horticultural Workers Union). Here Michael de Gier, full-time officer, despite a terrible muddle in conjunction with the on account payments, could quickly ascertain several breaches of the agreement, which Carata is party to as an affiliate of the Danish Construction Association. Non-payment of overtime rates, non-payment of weekend rates, incorrect contract of employment, incorrect wage slips and non-payment of wages to the agreed time were some of the many breaches of agreement.
So then the industrial dispute procedure was activated. Carata acknowledged the many breaches of agreement and the first cash settlement followed in the beginning of September when Robert Majewski and five of his colleagues received the adjustments of kr. 68,000 in total. Since then Michael de Gier on the basis of timesheets and wage slips has calculated that the same group has been cheated out of at least kr. 78,000.
Elected as shop steward
Robert Majewski is 37, married with 5 children and lives, like the majority of the gang, in the town of Elk in north east Poland not far from the border to Lithuania and Belarus.
It’s for the family’s sake I’m here - I really miss them. So I want what I’m entitled to and I won’t be cheated.
At the suggestion of the union he has been elected shop steward for his colleagues; a role which he is getting used to. He has, on behalf of the gang, put in a claim for a dirty work allowance for the dirty and dusty work they do.
If there’s something that complies with a dirty work allowance, it must be the work we’re doing, he reasons.
Robert Majewski calls it a “mess” and “tiresome” that he and his colleagues are employed in a firm which works for another.
Hands are washed when things go wrong and the one party does not know what the other’s doing. It’s very symptomatic that the premises for hiring out are unclear.
Another problem is language. The Poles are working under a Danish collective agreement, but it is not in Polish. Consequently they did not - prior to contacting the union - know their rights.
Michael de Gier dare not say whether the many breaches of agreement are ill will or just “incapability” on the part of the employer.
Rumour travels fast
The rumour is rife that membership of a trade union is money well spent - and you don't get sacked.
Another group of employees in Carata, who are also working in the Central Station but for E. Pihl & Son, a firm of building contractors, have also approached the union.
And the problems are more or less the same in this instance, says Michael de Gier, who has started counting breaches of agreement and calculating how much the group has been cheated out of.
All in all 19 Polish workers from Carata have now joined the union.
Michael de Gier is happy about the new members.
It creates a lot of work just now, but I regard it as a good investment.
The Poles agree with him.
What was unthinkable a few months ago, is now a common day occurrence.
When Copenhageners go to bed and the trains are not moving, the gang of Polish workers starts demolition work in the Central Station.
Robert Mejewski did not think much of trade unions, but now he does!
Lagt på: 04. September 2007 18:17
Sidst ændret: 04. September 2007 18:34
