Successful picket of Subway

national | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Monday April 06, 2009 23:32 by Padraic - WSM, personal capacity jackwhite at riseup dot net

Subway targeted in Day of Action in defense of Natalia Szymanska, a 19 year old Polish worker who was sacked from her job Belfast one month after informing her boss that she was pregnant.

On the picket

The grounds for firing her was that she allowed her boyfriend, also a Subway employee, into the store while she locked up so that he could walk her home. This is despite the fact that senior management previously accepted that Natalia's partner regularly came to the shop as she was pregnant. CCTV recordings and other evidence which would prove that Natalia was correct were denied to the representatives.

Despite repeated attempts by the Belfast Trades Council to engage with this employer to resolve the issue the employer remains intransigent.

SUBWAY® are responsible for ensuring that their franchised outlets are operated in accordance with the Subway Equal Opportunities policy, but they have ignored appeals from Natalia to intervene.

A campaign has been organised to help fight natalia's case. It calls on Subway to:

* immediately reinstate the pregnant worker

*reimburse her for loss of earnings

*compensate her for the injury to feeling

*treat all workers fairly

Belfast Trades Council called a Day of Solidarity Action this Saturday 4th April from 12 - 2pm

In the run up to the Day of Action a number of individuals from the Belfast Trades Council were the subject of court actions which resulted in them signing undertakings not to be involved in the protests and in them removing all material to do with the case from their website. This has effectively turned the campaign into a 'right to protest' issue.

On the day pickets and protests were held in Belfast, Dublin, London, brighton, Cheltenham and Greenwich (U.S). Dublin's contribution to the day of action saw the longest established and best known branch in the city, in Nassau Street, suffer an almost total shutdown of its lunchtime trade. At any time there were at least a dozen people outside with posters and leaflets.