Gdansk shipyard workers plan EU protest

Some 100 trade unionists from Gdansk Shipyard will picket the headquarters of the European Union (EU) in Brussels later this month to protest against plans of a decision on capacity reduction in the yard. The Gdansk Shipyard Solidarity trade union says the demonstration will be peaceful and that nobody wants clashes with local police.

The European Commission (EC), the executive wing of the EU, has given the shipyard until Tuesday to either cut capacity or return subsidy money, a move seen as threatening to push it to bankruptcy. According to the EU, such capacity cut is a necessary step forward in a restructuring process financed by state aid. The EC demands that the shipyard shut two shipbuilding slipways.