Mitt Romney: Out of Touch with Poland's Working Class
Mitt Romney tries to walk the walk of a friend of working people but he certainly doesn’t talk the talk: whether he is attacking the American auto industry or insulting the British workers organizing the Olympics, Romney remains an out-of-touch voice of, by and for the richest 1% .
That’s true today as he visits Poland on a trip neither initiated nor approved of by the Polish labor movement, Solidarnosc. The members of Solidarnosc fought against the odds against Soviet control of Poland throughout the 1980s; today they stand with the American labor movement against Romney’s attacks on the right of workers in the United States to organize collectively.
That’s why Solidarnosc’s Andrzej Adamczyk issued a statement responding to Romney’s campaign trip to Poland:
In relation to Lech Walesa’s meeting with Mitt Romney, a candidate for President of the USA, I wish to inform that NSZZ “Solidarnosc” is in no way involved in the organization of this meeting nor had the initiative to invite Mitt Romney to Poland.
Regretfully, we have learned from our friends in the American trade union central AFL-CIO representing over 12 million workers about Mitt Romney’s support for the attacks against trade unions and labor rights. In this respect, I wish to express, on behalf of the President of NSZZ “Solidarnosc” Piotr Duda, our solidarity with American workers and trade unions. NSZZ “Solidarnosc” will always support the AFL-CIO in their struggle for the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said of Romney’s trip to Poland:
The story of the Polish resistance is one of a country gaining strength from bottom-up organizing on behalf of the whole country. I wish Romney would pause and learn the lessons of the Polish labor movement’s courageous resistance to communism rather than just treat Poland as yet another photo op. Romney needs to step back and reject the George W. Bush/Bain Capital model of top down economics and recognize that we are all stronger when we stand together.
