{{Short description|Stereotype of Eastern Europeans}} {{use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} [[File:Polish Plumber.jpg|thumb|250px|Polish tourism poster featuring a Polish plumber. Caption: "I remain in Poland, do come over ''en masse''."]] The '''Polish plumber''' and the '''Polish builder''' are stereotypes of [[cheap labour]] coming from [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] to work in [[Western Europe]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.german-times.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1490&Itemid=69|title=Beneficial immigration|last=Quick|first=Vanessa|date=September 2007|website=The German Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203011334/http://www.german-times.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1490&Itemid=69|archive-date=2013-12-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4115164.stm|title='Polish plumber' beckons French|date=2005-06-21|work=[[BBC]]|language=en-GB}}</ref> They are both a symbol of the fear that cheap Eastern European labour is threatening the jobs of Western Europeans and a symbol of foreign labour being more affordable and reliable.<ref name=":0" /> __NOTOC__ ==Origin== In 2004, a European Union law known as the [[Bolkestein Directive]] was drafted, which aimed at establishing a [[single market]] for [[Service (economics)|services]] in the EU which would allow workers to move freely between countries of the European Union. The term "Polish plumber" was used in an article in ''[[Charlie Hebdo]]'' in 2004, but became popular after French politician [[Philippe de Villiers]] used it while campaigning against the EU law:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lopinion.fr/edition/politique/comment-plombier-polonais-a-fait-voter-non-referendum-2005-5531|title=Comment le plombier polonais a fait voter "non" au référendum de 2005|date=2013-10-28|website=L'Opinion|language=fr|access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Décosse|first1=Frédéric|last2=Desalvo|first2=Augustina|date=2017|title=Les détachés de l'agriculture intensive|url=https://www.academia.edu/33483299|journal=Plein Droit|language=fr|volume=113|issue=2|pages=7|doi=10.3917/pld.113.0007}}</ref>
{{text and translation|language=fr|Cette affaire est très grave, car la directive Bolkestein permet à un '''plombier polonais''' ou à un architecte estonien de proposer ses services en France, au salaire et avec les règles de protection sociale de leur pays d'origine. Sur les 11 millions de personnes actives dans les services, un million d'emplois sont menacés par cette directive. Il s'agit d'un démantèlement de notre modèle économique et social| "This matter is very serious as the Bolkenstein directive permits a '''Polish plumber''' or an [[Estonia]]n [[architect]] to offer their services in France at the salary level and with the labor laws of their respective countries of origin. Of the 11 million people engaged in the service industry (in France), one million are threatened by this directive, which seeks to dismantle our economic and social model".| Philippe de Villiers<ref>''Villiers : "La grande triche du oui"'', Interview de Philippe de Villiers, ''[[Le Figaro]]'', 15 mars 2005</ref>.</p>}}
==In politics== The [[Swiss Socialist Party]] campaigned in favour of the free circulation of people (in the context of European bilateral deals) and also featured a character, with the slogan "Plumbers of all countries, unite!", a reference to [[Workers of the world, unite!|the famous slogan]] from the ''[[Communist Manifesto]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.juso.ch/index.php?page=press_releases&id=262|title=Libre circulation: Plombiers de tous les pays, unissez-vous!|date=2005-08-22|website=[[Young Socialists Switzerland]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516152532/http://www.juso.ch/index.php?page=press_releases&id=262|archive-date=2006-05-16}}</ref>
An estimated two million workers from Eastern and Central Europe arrived in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2007, half of them were Polish.<ref name=":0" /> The stereotype of the Polish plumber was cited as a factor in the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|referendum]] that led to the [[Brexit|withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/28/britains-850000-polish-citizens-face-backlash-after-brexit-vote/|title=Britain's 850,000 Polish citizens face backlash after Brexit vote|author=Adam Taylor|date=2016-06-28|newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-polish-builders-defiant-but-admit-future-is-uncertain-after-eu-referendum-vote-a7100761.html|title=Brexit: Polish builders defiant but admit future is 'uncertain' after EU referendum vote|author=Ted Jeory|date=2016-06-24|work=Independent}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/03/first-they-came-for-the-polish-plumbers-a-dystopian-view-of-life/|title=First they came for the Polish plumbers: a dystopian view of life post-Brexit|author=Paola Buonadonna|date=2016-06-03|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/05/14/477685487/if-britain-leaves-the-eu-what-happens-to-the-polish-plumber|title=If Britain Leaves The EU, What Happens To The 'Polish Plumber?'|author=Lauren Frayer|date=2016-05-14|publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0225/Brexit-debate-Could-Britain-get-by-without-the-Polish-Plumber-video|title='Brexit' debate: Could Britain get by without the 'Polish Plumber'?|author=Elisabeth Braw|date=2016-02-25|work=Christian Science Monitor}}</ref>
==Poster== A Polish tourism board used the stereotype in a humorous poster in 2005 inviting the French to come visit Poland.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4115164.stm|title='Polish plumber' beckons French|date=2005-06-21|work=[[BBC News]]|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8396626|title=France's new media star? The Polish plumber.|date=2005-06-29|website=[[NBC News]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306082158/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8396626/|archive-date=2016-03-06}}</ref> The designer of the poster was nominated in 2005 for the title "European of the Year" in category "Campaigner of the Year" <ref>[http://www.tur-info.pl/p/ak_id,3252,,andrzej_kozlowski,europejczyk_roku,za_hydraulika,turowski,pot,poit,hydraulik.html "Andrzej Kozłowski nominowany na Europejczyka Roku!"]</ref> and the model, {{ill|Piotr Adamski|pl|Piotr Adamski (model)}} got his "[[15 minutes of fame]]" and a brief career boost.<ref>[https://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/artykul/polski-hydraulik-w-paryzu-reklamuje-uroki-swego-kraju "Polski hydraulik w Paryżu reklamuje uroki swego kraju"]</ref>
==Further reading== * Kończal, Kornelia (2008), ''Vom Schreckgespenst zum Dressman. Le plombier polonais und die Macht der Imagination'', in: Kiran Klaus Patel, Veronika Lipphardt und Lorraine Bluche (ed.): Der Europäer – ein Konstrukt. Wissensbestände und Diskurse, Göttingen: Wallstein, p. 299–325.
==See also== * [[Anti-Polish sentiment]] * [[Poles in the United Kingdom]] * [[Poles in France]]
==References== {{reflist|3}}
{{Portal bar|Poland|European Union|United Kingdom|France|Politics|Society}} [[Category:Anti-immigration politics in Europe]] [[Category:Politics of Europe]] [[Category:Tourism in Poland]] [[Category:France–Poland relations]] [[Category:2005 in France]] [[Category:2005 in Poland]] [[Category:Anti-Polish sentiment in Europe]] [[Category:Stereotypes of Polish people]] [[Category:Stereotypes of diasporas]] [[Category:Plumbing]]