Strikers in Poland have hit out against the pharmaceutical giant Roche over “shady” hiring practices at the headquarters of Roche Poland in Warsaw after one employee was allegedly unfairly dismissed. 

Last week saw strikers from the worker’s Union of Polish Syndicalists (ZSP) camping out in front of the company’s Polish head office and this week Roche employees have joined in to support them. The workers are angry about the firm’s hiring practices, claiming that Roche employs contract workers for long-term assignments to avoid hiring them on a full-time basis as they would then be entitled to social benefits, including job-security protections, sick leave, or paid vacation.

The Union accuses Roche of firing an employee who publicly complained about these practices and are demanding that the employee should be given his job back. The Union also alleges that Roche circumvents the Polish labour code by employing contract workers who are “fictitiously self-employed people."

Roche is a Swiss healthcare company that operates in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics and has a wide global presence. The company has come under fire in other European countries, most notably in Serbia when it was drawn into a corruption probe in 2010.