NSZZ Solidarity of Individual Farmers has ended the sit-in strike at the Ministry of Agriculture, but the protests are not ending, the union’s chairman, Tomasz Obszański, announced on Thursday. He said that farmers received information that Prime Minister Donald Tusk would meet with them next week.
We have ended the sit-in protest. Protests will continue on the streets and in cities. The protest action will continue,” Obszański said during a press conference in front of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development building.
He also announced “a large protest of workers’ Solidarity and agricultural Solidarity and all unions that will join, farmers of all organizations” on May 10 in Warsaw. “We are preparing for this protest. This protest will attack the broadly understood Green Deal,” he said.
We cannot leave the European Union, but we have to be a nation-state, sovereign and decide for ourselves, he emphasized.
We left the building of the Ministry of Agriculture after the protest, after the sit-in strike, which is now in its third day. We received information that Prime Minister Tusk will meet with farmers next week, which is what we sought and wanted, said Obszański, noting that it is not yet known whether the meeting will take place on Wednesday or Thursday. – There is talk of Wednesday – he added.
There is no satisfaction, but there is progress
He admitted that you are presenting NSZZ RI, leaving the ministry building they are not entirely satisfied, but “there is some progress”. He noted that NSZZ SRI cares for broadly understood agriculture and agri-food processing.
There were no talks about breeding, tobacco production, soft fruit, herb production, or about all the sectors that Solidarity cares about, because we have to talk about agriculture very broadly, and we want the issues of all agriculture to be dealt with comprehensively, Obszański noted. . – That’s why last evening we talked with Minister Siekierski (Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Czesław Siekierski – PAP) about these matters. We talked this morning, we talked in the afternoon, he added.
According to the chairman of NSZZ SRI, the talks so far with the Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski, and the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Michał Kołodziejczak, have been “quite difficult”.
Yesterday, most of the agricultural organizations left. Financing and guarantees were obtained for the sale of grain from PLN 200 to PLN 300. (…)For us it was unsatisfactory – he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture informed on Wednesday afternoon that Minister Czesław Siekierski met several times during the day with farmers occupying the building. It was indicated that after all-day talks, most of the protesters left the ministry building, and only two people remained in the building: Obszański and former Minister of Agriculture Gabriel Janowski. According to the ministry, “this proves that representatives of NSZZ RI “Solidarność” have political motives to continue the protest.
Participants of the agreement in Jasionka occupied the ministry
Representatives of protesting farmers who on March 19 this year signed agreements with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Jasionka, and came to the Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday afternoon for talks regarding the implementation of their demands. According to farmers, their demands are not being implemented. They announced a sit-in strike and remained in the ministry building, at the same time demanding to talk to Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the arrangements adopted in Jasionka “have been implemented to a significant extent.” The ministry added that it “implements the demands and arrangements made with the representatives of the protesting farmers.” As stated by Minister Czesław Siekierski, quoted in the release, a number of activities require many inter-ministerial arrangements and specific procedures, which extends the implementation of the arrangements.
