40th National Congress of ZNP Delegates in Warsaw
On 18th-20th November 2010 there was 40th Congress of ZNP Delegates organised in Warsaw. The jubilee Congress coincided with the 80th anniversary of the construction of ZNP trade union headquarters and with the 105th anniversary of the ZNP’s creation.
Polish Teachers’ Union invited a number of representatives from different European countries as well as from more remote areas.
ZNP international guests participated in a two-day-long seminar entitled „Teacher trade unions in the face of European challenges”.
The opening of the international seminar was done on 18th November by ZNP President, Slawomir Broniarz who delivered a speech on cureent challenges of Polish education system and science. After the presentation of the seminar programme, international delegates were invited to take part in the official ceremony held in front of the ZNP building at 35, Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie. The ceremony, run by ZNP President and assisted by Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, President of the City of Warsaw, consisted in unveiling a monument of a school bench along with a plaque commemorating the erection of the ZNP building and its architects: Teodor Bursze vel Bursche and Antoni Kowalski.
The next point of the programme was the official opening of the Congress at which the speech was pronounced by ZNP President and Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, who greeted personally all international guests.
After the official part, international guests returned to participate in the seminar. One of the questions raised was the role of social partners, i.e. teacher trade unions, in promoting and developing the idea of Eastern Partnership, which was presented by a representative of Foreign Affairs Department from Polish Ministry of National Education, Maria Magdalena Budkus. Participants had a possibility to become familiar with the achievements of Young Teacher Club presented by its president, Hanna Bieniek. Her speech opened a debate on the role of young people in trade unions. Representatives from Estonia, Slovakia and Lithuania discussed the issue of recruiting young people in their respective countries. The seminar was also attended by Warsaw Vice-President, Włodzimierz Paszyński, who spoke about the role of self-governments in shaping educational policy in the face of decentralisation of education.
On 19th November, our international guests took part again in the Congress at which turned up Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Waldemar Pawlak, OPZZ (confederation to which ZNP is affiliated) President, Jan Guz and SLD (Democratic Left Alliance) President, Grzegorz Napieralski who greeted ZNP foreign guests. ETUCE Secretary, Martin Romer, spoke about European education, its challenges and achievements and General Secretary of Autonomous Head Office of Haitian Workers Fignolé Saint Cyr, thanked cordially for humanitarian help offered by ZNP to Haitian teachers after the earthquake of 12 January 2010. Our guest from Haiti made another speech within the international seminar, devoted to the education system in Haiti as well as to problems and challenges faced by Haiti following the calamitous eartquake.
The seminar was attended by OPZZ President, Jan Guz and OPZZ Vice-President, Andrzej Radzikowski.
International guests were invited to a guided sightseeing tour in Warsaw. They saw the most representative places in the capital city, i.e. Royal Park Łazienki, Royal Route and the Old Town. Afterwards, they visited a newly open Copernicus Science Centre.
We would like to thank our international guests for accepting our invitation to ZNP Congress, and in particular:
Mr Martin Rømer, ETUCE General Secretary
and representatives from:
- Bulgaria : Ms Kounka Damianova & Ms Janka Takeva
- Czech Republic : Mr Frantisek Dobsik & Ms Zdenka La Sala
- Estonia : Mr Sven Rondik & Ms Evi Veesaar
- France : Ms Odile Cordelier
- Germany : Mr Ulrich Thöne
- Haiti : Mr Fignolé Saint Cyr
- Hungary : Mr Peter Horvath
- Israel : Ms Ogenia & Mr Pesah Landesberg
- Lithuania : Mr Audrius Jurgelevicius and Ms Tatjana Babrauskiene
- Romania : Mr Razvan Bobulescu & Mr Anton Hadar
- Russia : Mr Nikolai Kolabashkin
- Slovakia : Mr Luboslav Simonovic and Mr Michal Mlcousek
- Ukraine : Ms Mariya Jatseyko