18th National Congress

 

Address by Guy Ryder,
General Secretary of the ICFTU,
on the occasion of the
25th Anniversary of NSZZ Solidarnosc
Gdansk (Poland), 31 August 2005

Dear Brother Walesa, Dear Brother Sniadek, Dear Borther Krzaklewski,
Distinguished representatives and Guests,

Twenty-five years ago, in Gdansk, an Inter-Factory Strike Committee (MKS) was set up, elected at its spokesperson Lech Walesa, and formulated its 21 fundamental claims, that were going to change the face not only of the country, but also of the whole region.

This was to be the beginning of the great adventure of "Solidarnosc".

Last June, NSZZ Solidarnosc presented the ICFTU with a copy of the "Gdansk tables", which contained these 21 demands. We took the opportunity of the last meeting of our Executive Board to celebrate, with the representatives of all our affiliates over the world, the anniversary of the birth of a new, democratic and independent trade union movement in Poland.

Today, we are living in a different world, and in a different Europe. We no longer speak of two different kinds of Europe, and it has become very rare, happily, that we hear about different kind of standards - ones for example that would apply to the "capitalist" countries, others to the so-called "socialist" countries. This we owe to the struggle of Solidarnosc, which started twenty five years ago. Universality of international standards - human rights, trade union rights, fundamental workers' rights - is now largely acknowledged, with very few exceptions, though one of them - unfortunately - stands right next door to Poland. The country which I have in mind is Belarus, and its government which, for over 10 years now, has systematically violated the principle of freedom of association and other core conventions of the ILO. It is therefore quite appropriate, I think, to pay tribute today to Poland's relentless efforts, and to those of NSZZ "Solidarnosc" itself, to help our Byelorussian union colleagues and indeed that nation itself, to shake off the heavy chains of oppression. And it seems all the more appropriate to do so since the events of the last few weeks have place Poland itself at the forefront of the constant battle to defeat all remnants of dictatorship in this part of the world.

As we celebrate Solidarnonsc's 25th birthday, however, it should also be recalled that the struggle for human and trade union rights had its roots much earlier than in 1980. We, at the ICFTU, have not forgotten the Poznan Strikes of June 1956, the Baltic Ports Strike of December 1970 and the 1976 Strikes in Radom and Ursus. All of these had been brutally repressed.

In August 1980, the Gdansk Inter-Factory Strike Committee provided Polish workers with the very instrument - a collective union organisation -which they need to implement their action over time. And in doing so, they chose the best legal grounds there is, namely the Conventions on Freedom of Association of the International Labour Organisation. We all believed back then that this was particularly important. The years to come would prove to be very difficult for the Polish trade unionists: the declaration of martial law (which Polish law called "the State of War"!), thousands of trade unionists sent to prison, over 130 of them killed in strikes and demonstrations throughout the country, and Solidarnosc itself prohibited and pushed into the underground for years. Yet, your organisation resisted, drawing on a long experience of conspiracy, itself a historical tradition in your country.

And we can say that it is precisely because a real, effective, trade union organisation was forged here in Gdansk, that Polish trade unionists were able to impose to the communist regime the "Round-Table Agreements", in 1988, which created the conditions for a peaceful transition to a new, democratic society.

We, at the ICFTU, and no doubt our WCL colleagues also, take pride in the support offered throughout these difficult years to NSZZ" Solidarnosc". Suffice it to say only that, from 1982 to 1987, the only legal address of your union was in Brussels, in an office jointly supported by the ICFTU and the WCL and headed by our regretted friend and colleague, Jerzy Milewski. I think he would have been happy to stand with us here today.

Dear Friends,

We came here to celebrate the anniversary of NSZZ Solidarnosc, and to thank our Polish friends, for all what they have done for Poland, for the region, for the whole world, in fact. This applies to democracy, to promoting the international standards. But it also shows that a large part of our common future can be shaped by us, the workers and the union movement. The last twenty five years have not been easy. The much-needed social and economic reforms proved to be far more difficult than was expected. Democracy still needs to be consolidated. And social dialogue needs to be further developed if we are to find better, more balanced solutions, and build the necessary consensus in this very difficult transition process. Therein also lies the challenge of globalisation. What we know however is that all these challenges could be addressed because a democratic and independent trade union movement was created here, in Poland. And it is though their organisation, through Solidarnosc that the Polish workers, with the support of the trade unionists around the world, will be able to continue their struggle for a better future.

NIECH ZYJE NSZZ "SOLIDARNOSC"!
NIECH ZYJE POLSKA!

25th Anniversary of Solidarnosc
(Remarks of Jim Baker, ACTRAV/ILO)

It is an honour and a pleasure to represent the International Labour Office and its Director-General at this celebration. It is a ceremony that marks the beginning of a peaceful and democratic revolution. It is a revolution build on conventions #87 and #98, the international labour standards that protect freedom of association and the rights to organise and bargain.

The ILO accompanied this process from the first complaint lodged by workers through the roundtable that ended martial law and began the process of drafting new labour laws. But, it was the struggle for freedom of millions of Polish workers that breathed life into these conventions, ratified by Poland, and so transformed this country and the world.

And, their trade union, Solidarnosc, was the tool that workers used to build a free society. Liberty in Poland was not granted. It was won. And, it came, as it must, from building power from below, not from receiving the gift of "empowerment" from above.

The determination of Polish workers inspired workers, not only in the region, but globally. It won the solidarity of free trade unions and their organisations everywhere. It was the lever that moved the world.

A quarter of a century later, it is worth reflecting on those exciting days and on what they meant and still mean. The people of Poland fought for freedom and for the right to set the direction of their own society. They did not fight for the right of an unrestrained, faceless market to determine their future.

Free trade unions are, by their very nature, forces for democracy. They struggle, not only to establish democracy against tyrants - public or private - but work, every day, to preserve and deepen and expand democracy.

Democracy is not conceivable without free trade unions any more than it can be imagined in the absence of free elections. And, the extension of social justice and human dignity is only possible if we manage to fan that same, universal flame of solidarity that burned so brightly here in Gdansk 25 years ago.

Thank you.

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