Apparently, all it takes is sitting in the BOK-MCC corridor to quickly determine who belongs to NSZZ Solidarność and who does not. The division is visible to the naked eye. Once colleagues, and even friends, today look at one another suspiciously and with disapproval. Sometimes they do not even greet each other. They no longer like one another. Each faction has a different assessment of the situation. It is difficult to make sense of it all. The fact is that there are two camps at BOK-MCC: one criticizing the director and one that does not. It is also a fact that the first camp is shrinking. Earlier, it was said that almost the entire staff, around 40 people, had joined the union. Now, according to some employees, 27 people have signed a letter stating that they disagree with the union’s demands.
People confirm that they joined Solidarność because they wanted an organization that would fight for pay rises and the fair awarding of bonuses. However, no one consulted them about the latest demand for a PLN 500 pay rise.
The media reported that the employees were in a dispute with the director, but did not mention that not everyone wanted to be involved in a dispute. “I just want to work in peace, and I do not agree to my company’s good name being dragged through the mud,” says the first employee who spoke to us. A second person asks us to write that pay rises are granted every year: there was one last year and there is one this year, so the demand has been met. “We learned from online portals that we were demanding another, substantial pay rise,” that person added.
When employees began challenging the union’s decisions and leaving it, it turned out that a verbal declaration was not enough and that people were still speaking on their behalf. They had to search online to find out how to formally leave the union. Many people may still not know that their resignation must be submitted in writing to the chairwoman for her signature. Leaving in this way means coming face-to-face with the chairwoman, who is supposed to look after the employees but reacts in her own way to those with different plans and opinions.
“Sometimes the manager gives contradictory instructions,” says our third interviewee. “The director tells employees to do one thing at a meeting, while the manager decides on the opposite after the meeting. It is not clear whom to obey. Another unpleasant situation is that the manager seems to obstruct ordinary collegial cooperation, unless I am misinterpreting it. A colleague asks for help organizing a performance, but she is not a supporter of Solidarność, and the manager and the union chairwoman prohibit anyone from helping without a formal email. In itself, it is nothing—just following procedures—but I wonder whether she really has the employees’ best interests at heart,” our interviewee asks rhetorically.
Many people regret the division that has emerged, the terrible atmosphere at work, and the fact that relationships have become strictly professional and sometimes even hostile. Employees accuse one another of sympathizing with one side or the other. They are also concerned that the workplace committee releases information to the media without consultation and consider this unfair.
“This negatively affects our image. Parents come in and ask whether classes will continue, what we want, and whether we will continue operating, because they have read various things in the media. No one makes sure that we are described properly or presented in a good light, or asks what we think about publishing these demands, let alone whether we agree to it,” says the fourth employee.
The employees are confused and do not understand the point of the conflict. They believe that someone from Solidarność has painted themselves into a corner. “The pay rises they are demanding are unrealistic. I no longer know what they are fighting for. And the people most active are those who do the least and know the least about the realities of the market in Poland. They do not know what bosses can be like. A director is not there to constantly praise us, appreciate us, and pat us enthusiastically on the backside,” adds another BOK-MCC employee.
Some employees confirm what the union chairwoman says. At first, the issue really was pay rises, bonuses—in short, money. After the elections, around the time of the Kindness Star, the situation became more heated and spiraled out of control. Employees not affiliated with Solidarność suggest that this is a personal attack on the director, intended to replace her with someone else who would be better for the union. Everyone says they want peace; everyone is tired of the situation, and even devastated by it. But they have stopped talking to one another. The union is represented by an outsider, while employees who disagree with the union representatives want to remain anonymous. Everyone talks about reaching an agreement, but for now no one is pursuing one; they are only looking for someone to blame. Each side quickly points to someone else as responsible for the situation, but sees no flaws in itself.
A very respectable, efficiently operating institution of immense importance to the city and the entire county is experiencing an extremely difficult conflict. Let us keep our fingers crossed that the people involved can reach an understanding—on their own, without the help of the media or Solidarność.