Polish Workers Protest at EU Over Gdansk Shipyard

Polish workers protested outside the EU headquarters over the bloc`s demands that the struggling Gdansk shipyard slash its output.

Polish workers protested outside the European Union's headquarters on Friday over the bloc's demands that the struggling Gdansk shipyard, birthplace of the anti-communist movement Solidarity, slash its output.

The European Commission has said Gdansk must cut capacity to avoid having to repay hefty state subsidies, which could trigger the yard's bankruptcy.

"We defended our shipyard successfully during communist times but now we feel the danger may be coming from Brussels," protest leader Karol Guzikiewicz told Reuters at a rally of some 100 workers outside the EU executive's main building.

The collapse of the yard would be political dynamite in Poland which is poised for an early parliamentary election in October or November.

The protesters, carrying red and white Solidarity flags and singing anti-communist songs from the 1980s, met EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes who is studying Gdansk's restructuring plan.

"It is a good sign that Commissioner Kroes is meeting us. But if our action brings no results, there will be more protests in Brussels involving more workers," Guzikiewicz said.

Under EU rules, governments can give financial help to ailing companies only if the cash is accompanied by plans that would make the firms viable in the long term.

The aid paid to three Polish shipyards including Gdansk since Poland entered the EU in 2004 totals 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion).

"The Commission recognises the crucial part in European history that Gdansk played and its part in the struggle for freedom and a reunited Europe," said Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd, but the commission had to follow the law.

HISTORIC YARD

The rally was staged on the 27th anniversary of the signing of "August agreements" between workers and Poland's communist government, which opened the door for the creation of the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union.

Solidarity helped trigger the fall of communism in 1989 in Poland and shipyard electrician Lech Walesa became president.

Unionists said the Commission's demand to shut two of the yard's three slipways would make it next to impossible to privatise the company and save its 3,000 jobs.

Ukrainian metals holding company Donbass Industrial Union and an Italian shipping firm have been selected as the final bidders to acquire 75 percent of the yard for some 100 million euros ($137 million).

"If Gdansk goes bankrupt, its jobs will go to South Korea and other Asian countries as the shipbuilding industry is booming," Guzikiewicz said.

Polish shipyards blossomed under communism by building merchant ships for the Soviet Union, but its workers were badly paid and mismanagement led to strikes.

After 1989, unions blocked the sale of the yard to foreign investors. Subsequent governments avoided radical changes and the yard has hovered on the verge of bankruptcy for years.