Trade unionists from the public sector have organised a happening in front of the Prime Minister’s Office to demand a wage increase.

As part of the event, 560 empty and transparent chairs symbolising the “idleness of parliamentarians” were set up on Wednesday morning opposite a building on Ujazdowskie Avenue in Warsaw where Mateusz Morawiecki’s office is located.

Edyta Odyjas from the Solidarity trade union said that this way public sector employees want to communicate that they “demand systemic solutions regarding remuneration regulations.”

She said that the protesters included employees of the Tax Office, Prison Service, Social Insurance Institution, courts, prosecutor’s offices, provincial offices and policemen.

According to trade unionists, the 460 empty chairs are to symbolise the idleness of Poland’s 460 lower house lawmakers as regards the wages of public sector employees and 100 chairs represent 100 idle Polish senators. Next to the chairs were boards with photographs showing the Solidarity trade union’s protests over the last 15 years and images of prime ministers from that period, Donald Tusk, Ewa Kopacz, Beata Szydlo and the incumbent Morawiecki.

Trade unionists have also sent a letter to Morawiecki with their demands.

“The current wage regulations covering many categories of employees of the public sector are not keeping up with the changing social, economic and economic situation… The solutions expected by the social side should create a situation where the public sector institutions is a competitive and attractive place of work, which would allow for the appropriate selection of clerical staff and an appropriate level of service provided to citizens,” the letter read.

The trade unionists also announced that at noon on September 15 a “march of thousands of public sector employees” will set off from the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.