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The picketing of ministry buildings, a tent city outside parliament, and finally a combined demonstration on Saturday that may draw as many as 100,000 people, are all scheduled.
“The government will probably not step down after one demonstration, but we are prepared to fight for weeks, months,” claimed Piotr Duda, chairman of the Solidarity trade union on Monday.
Solidarity, together with the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) and the Forum of Trade Unions, gave the green light for the protests in June, following a referendum on the matter.
The original reason for the protests was prospective reforms to the labour code that allow for so-called 'junk contracts' - temporary contracts suited to casual labour, in which employment rights are limited.
However, besides calls for the government to renege on its policy, the unions are also protesting against the already valid increase of the national retirement age to 67 for both sexes.
Likewise, unionists are demanding the adoption of a law that will create a faster rate of increase for the minimum wage, and they want obligatory nationwide referendums on policies once 500,000 signatures have been collected.
Head of OPZZ Jan Guz has pledged that the demonstrations will be peaceful.
“People are not coming [to Warsaw] to burn tyres,” he said.
“These people who are coming expect better care, better governance, and social security,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, who may lose her tenure after a prospective October referendum, has claimed that “ordinary Varsovians” will be most affected by the protests.
She has warned Varsovians that journeys to and from work may be hampered by the protests.
Source: PAP