Warsaw - Thousands of Solidarity labour union members marched in the capital on Friday demanding better pay, better retirement pensions and improved worker's rights. Workers from all over Poland gathered in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square, then marched across the city towards Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office.
There they left a petition calling for "dignified work and retirement" and threw firecrackers at his office. Others burned tyres, or chanted, "Solidarnosc, Solidarnosc," waving red and white union flags.
"It's easy to make promises during an election campaign," said Jacek Gasiorowski, chairman of the Solidarity Trade Union of the Warsaw Region.
"But it's hard to turn them into reality. ... There's not enough money in the state budget for retirement, so workers are paying the price to make up for it. They have to take the money from somewhere."
A group of workers gathered coins for Tusk's symbolic "early retirement," while others carried signs like, "Enough of this government," and, "Donald Tusk you promised a miracle, but deceived the people."
Katarzyna Traczuk, who travelled from the coastal city of Gdansk for the march, stood near shopping carts filled with several food staples.
"A minimum wage worker, after rent, can afford 5 loaves of bread, 6 eggs and some milk for a week," Traczuk said. "If someone's on retirement, they get even less after they pay for medicine. We want to make people aware how this looks in a basket."
The march comes near the 28th anniversary on Sunday of an historic agreement between communist authorities to legally recognize the labour union.
Police estimated a turn-out of about 18,000 people, while organizers claimed up to 30,000.
