Sinking industry
Filip Ćwik

20 years after the fall of Berlin Wall and Eastern European communism, Polish shipyard industry, the birthplace of "Solidarity" is in deep crisis. Gdansk and Szczecin shipyards are under the threat of liquidation. The battle between Polish government, creditors and European Union rages on. Shipyard workers live under immense pressure of dissmissals. They are completely unsure of their future; they leave, search for work in England, Ireland, Norway. During last two months over 25 % of workers left the Szczecin shipyard. ” Solidarnosc ” trade union, with its cradle shipyard in Gdansk fought for free Poland 27 years ago. Today it fights for the survival of the shipyard. It organizes manifestations and pickets. In the 70’s and 80’s nearly 20 thousand people worked in the shipyard. Today only 3 thousand are left and a ghast feeling of emptiness is in most of the shipyard’s sectors.