“Today, we have disciplinarily dismissed sixty-seven people who had refused to come into work due to participation in an illegal strike which has been ongoing at LOT since Thursday,” explained Milczarski. He hopes that these dismissals will be the last and has underlined that the company has lost several million PLN due to the strikes.
Reports suggest LOT management has already met with members of the trade union to resolve any issues remaining.
Due to the strike, the airlines had to cancel seven flights, including one from Warsaw to Toronto. Company spokesmen have explained that it was impossible to assemble crews, therefore, the flights had to be cancelled. On Monday all of the planned flights were on schedule. To fulfil their network of connections, LOT had borrowed aircraft from other carriers.
The trade unionists had demanded the reappointment of Monika Żelazik, the former chairman of the on-board professional staff association. Reports state that this was the direct cause of the recent protests. There are also demands for reinstating payroll regulations from 2010, as well as the dismissal of LOT chairman Rafał Milczarski. According to union members, he runs the company poorly, utilizes mobbing and tolerates unjust employment techniques used against unionists.
