Polish police on strike

The majority of Polish police officers have not turned up for work as a sign of protest against unfair distribution of recent pay rises.

Polish police employees, who are not allowed to go on an official strike by law, have gone on one-day sick leaves, taken the Thursday off or gone to give blood instead of turn up for duty.

The Polish police headquarters are unable to confirm what the scale of the protest will be. “Regional heads of police will monitor the situation on an on-going basis and make decisions accordingly”, the police HQ spokesman, Mariusz Sokolowski has told the newspaper.

The police force in Lodz was the first to go on strike. On Wednesday, only 158 out of the total of 350 officers turned up for work. They all called in sick for a few days.

Police HQ have announced they will check the legality of the doctors’ certificates produced by the officers.

Polish police employees are dissatisfied at the recent pay rises. On average, they were promised an increase of 520 zlotys a month each. A junior police officer earns 2200 zlotys a month, informs Dziennik.

Yesterday, Minister of Internal Affairs Grzegorz Schetyna assured that the announced strike of Polish policemen will not paralyze the forces of law and order as the customs officers' strike did with border traffic last month.

Schetyna told Polish Radio said that some funds in the budget had been earmarked for pay hikes, and that the recent raises the police received were the highest in years.

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