Polish wedding industry protest: either start work in spring or declare bankruptcy
- "Either we start working in line with the start of the spring season in the wedding industry or we will declare bankruptcy," - said on Tuesday a co-owner of a wedding hall in Lomza
- The second owner argued that "the public should be put in their own hands to take responsibility for their health, lives, and finances"
- Industry representatives say that if the restrictions continue, they will become unemployed and have to access social benefits
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This is the last moment to save the wedding industry from total collapse - argued representatives of the Protest of the Wedding Industry on Tuesday at a conference held in the Polish Parliament. They appealed to the government to unfreeze the economy.
Wedding reception organizer DJ Przemyslaw Ciemniejewski said at a conference held Tuesday that the situation in the industry is very bad, and after a "lean" 2020, companies have no financial cushion.
"If this wedding season doesn't happen, we don't get unfrozen or we get unfrozen too late because it takes several months to prepare weddings, then we're talking about we're out, we have to sell our output and deal with something else, which is a very, very difficult situation," Ciemniejewski said.
At the same time, he noted that this year's wedding season promises to be "overcrowded with orders" because brides and grooms have been postponing their ceremonies for this year.
"The entire wedding industry speaks with one voice"
Anna Lapinska, co-owner of a wedding hall in Lomza, argued that "this is the last moment to save the industry from total financial collapse." "The entire wedding industry speaks with one voice: either we start working in line with the start of the spring season in the wedding industry, or we declare bankruptcy" - Lapinska stated.
According to her, "the fate of hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs ready to work and their employees of the wedding industry and tens of thousands of brides and grooms is in the hands of a few people who make the decision to continue the policy of imposing lockdowns and extending restrictions." "If the decisions are not changed, we will find ourselves unemployed in the labor market and will have to tap into the benefits support system," she said.
Industry wants unfreezing
Anna Łapińska considered the recent talks with Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Ministry of Regional Development, as the first important meeting on the way to the goal of "unfreezing the wedding industry". She also mentioned a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with Deputy Minister of Development, Labour and Technology Olga Semeniuk and further talks, this time at the Ministry of Health.
"We believe that in a very short time there will be another important step on the way to achieving our goal, which is to unfreeze the wedding industry, and we will meet with representatives of the Ministry of Health, where together we will define, we will undertake some strategy that will be wise, balanced and safe. And this strategy will be an answer to very often appearing questions among entrepreneurs in the wedding industry and young couples, "when and on what terms will weddings start". - Lapinska said.
Agnieszka Bujnowska, her sister and co-owner of a wedding hall appealed to the government to "change the strategy to manage the COVID-19 problem." She argued that "the public should be put in their own hands to take responsibility for their health, lives, and finances".
Tuesday's conference at the Sejm was organized together with the Confederation's deputies.
"The economic lockdown is not only a tragedy for hundreds of thousands of businesses, millions of workers who cannot work normally in Poland today, but it is also a tragedy for very many families who, because of the government's policy, cannot get married, cannot organize weddings," stated MP Robert Winnicki during the conference.
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