Polish workers protest to save shipyards

By Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Scores of Polish workers protested outside European Union headquarters on Wednesday in an attempt to save from bankruptcy three major shipyards where the Solidarity anti-communist movement was born.

The EU executive Commission has given Poland until Thursday to present restructuring plans for the three yards, which would allow them to avoid repaying an estimated 1.3 billion euros (1 billion pounds) in state aid.

"If we are forced to return this state aid, this will be the end of the shipyard industry in Poland," said Janusz Sniadek, head of Solidarity, which became a normal trade union after the fall of communism in 1989.

The collapse of the shipyards in Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin, which employ 15,000 workers, would be political dynamite in Poland and a serious blow to the centre-right, pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

It could also play into the hands of the Eurosceptic, right-wing opposition, political analysts say.

"We ask the Commission for more time ... to find a solution that would allow us to save our jobs," Sniadek told Reuters, adding that finding strategic investors for Gdynia and Szczecin could resolve the problem.

Some 200 protesters cranked up sirens outside the Commission's main building. They carried a banner saying: "Dictators from the east did not destroy our shipyards, now Brussels officials hold the cards."

At the same time in Warsaw, the main political parties called news conferences to blame each other for the yards' problems, while the government said it would put forward a rescue plan.