Polish migrants to strike and give blood to demonstrate importance to UK

The Polish community in the UK will take action on Thursday to demonstrate just how much the UK relies on them, in two contrasting ways: some Polish workers plan to down tools in a daylong strike and head to a demonstration at Westminster, while others intend to donate their blood to the NHS in a gesture laden with historic symbolism.

More than 1,000 Polish workers are set to protest outside parliament instead of going to work. Meanwhile, a Facebook page and Twitter campaign by British Poles is urging others to head to their nearest donor clinic. Using #polishblood, the donor campaign has registered 2,300 as “going”.

George Byczynski of the British Poles Initiative, who has organised the #polishblood campaign, said he and other organisers did not believe a strike was necessary and instead they had decided to do something positive to show how important migrants were to the UK – and how important the UK was to migrants.

“A few weeks ago, readers of the Polish language newspaper Polish Express began discussing what would happen if 10,000s of Poles working in the UK did not go to work for the day,” he said. “There was a discussion that it would prove how hard Polish people work and the benefits immigrants in general brought to the country. It wasn’t treated as a serious idea, but then it began to get discussed online and began to grow.”

But as it looked like it may become a reality, some Polish workers decided there were better ways to raise awareness of their contribution to the communities they live in. “My friends and I decided it was a risky thing to support,” Byczynski said. “We thought strikes should be seen as a last resort.”

Instead, the group decided to show how they could be a force for good in their adopted country. “We wanted to do a positive act,” he said. “We came up with the idea that we would ask Polish people to donate blood instead. We know the NHS needs 200,000 donors this year, so we hit on the idea that we could get 10,000 or more migrants to help.”

Now thousands of Polish migrants are heading to blood donor centres across the country in the coming week. “Now blood donor centre are fully booked up because of this initiative,” he said.

Byczynski grew up in Cracow and moved to London six years ago to study international relations and international law at Westminster University. “I chose London because I thought it was the centre of the world,” he said. “The English language is great and I completely fell in love with this city.”

While he says he has not suffered from specific anti-Polish racism in London, a Polish friend who lives in Kent had faced serious harassment including having his home daubed with slogans telling him to “go home” and an arson attack on his garage.

“We were concerned by the rise of Ukip last year but we feel that has since lessened,” he said. “There is an issue with the language politicians use and sometimes they do scapegoat Polish people.” He cited the case of Conservative Royston Smith, an anti-EU and anti-immigration, who made comments about Polish plumbers with families of 20 during the buildup to May’s election.

Byczynski and his group decided to tackle the remarks in a non-confrontational way. “Around 700 people emailed him and politely pointed out that around 10% of the people living in his constituency were of Polish origin. We said that not all Poles were plumbers, nor had large families. He saw people had been annoyed and taken the time to explain why, so he wrote an apology. He invited us to meet him at the Houses of Parliament and listened to us.”

The British Poles Initiative said in its Facebook post: “We believe that a strike of Polish people in the UK could be extremely successful. Hundreds of thousands of people would not come to work for one day in order to counter the discrimination of Poles in the UK.

“Nevertheless, we believe that the relations between Poles and Brits have been good lately and it is not yet the time to organise such a strike. Poles have enormously contributed to the British economy and are thankful to have many opportunities to work and study in the UK. Therefore we are strongly encouraging all Poles in the UK to donate blood on the 20 August, instead of striking, to foster British-Polish relations. The #polishblood campaign is another proof of the positive contribution of Polish migrants to the UK.”

The campaign is designed to remind Britons that the Polish nation had in the past shed blood and lives for the UK. During the second world war, thousands of Poles fought in the British army.

John Zylinksi, the son of a Polish war hero who fought the Nazis, said in a piece written for the Guardian that the Polish community in Britain “feels seriously scapegoated” and those downing tools wanted this to stop.

The Polish Express newspaper, which is backing the strike, has set up a Facebook page for the strike which registered 1,000 as attending.