GFTU BGCM Report 2019

By way of preparation, the trade union analysis of Poland in the International Campaign for Trade Union Rights Directory (2017) and the Country Profile on Poland by the European Trade Union Information Centre (2012) were circulated. During the week three short delegation meetings were held, an initial one to organise activities and hear a political background to Poland by Maciej Pacula, a brief discussion after the first three meetings, and a final discussion to assess the week and the picture for trade unionists in Poland. It was possible during the week for bilateral arrangements to be made, but it transpired that this was possible only for the Musicians Union who held a number of meetings with their sister union, including a meeting with the orchestra in Poland that had been in dispute with their employers for two years and been involved in strike actions and delaying performances and addressing their audiences. This report has been drafted by Doug Nicholls and considered by the delegation. It seeks to account for those points put to us in presentations and question and answer sessions by those we met. The report will be circulated to the Educational Trust, GFTU EC, reproduced on the GFTU website and included in the 2019 BGCM report. We met with: Adam Jarosinski, President Electro Machinists Union, Miroslav Grzybek, President of MetalWorkers’Trade Union, Urszula Michalska, President of union Federation representing Health and Social Care workers, Mr Andrzej Radzikowski, vice-president of Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, (OPZZ), Meeting with representatives of Związek Zawodowy Pracowników Rolnictwa RP (Trade Unions of Agriculture) and Federacja Związków Zawodowych Pracowników Przemysłu Spożywczego (Federation of Trade Unions). Poland became an independent country in 1918. Its land historically has been contested by Germany on its West and Russia on its Eastern borders. The scale of devastation wrought upon Poland by the Nazi invasion is not to be underestimated. Taking Warsaw as an example we saw how the City of 1.4 million people was literally totally reduced to rubble by 1944 when only 1,000 were still to be found there living in the ruins. 80% of the country’s industrial potential was also destroyed. Background: Politics and Union Organisation The situation for trade unions in Poland is categorised by fragmentation and disunity and government hostility. A combination of complex factors historic, political, cultural and legal contribute to this overall picture. The first trade unions and union federations formed in the late nineteenth century were, as in many other parts of Europe, based on political and religious views rather than, as we are used to, non- sectarian union organisation around trade/occupation/profession. As a consequence the trade union movement in Poland

started life divided broadly speaking between Christian and Socialist unions. By and large this division continues today, but with additional divisive factors overlaying this central rift and caused by the peculiar form of trade union legislation in the country. Following the liberation of the country from Nazi control a period of huge social and economic rebuilding began and the communist direction of travel, with its concern for workplace organisation and unionisation, led to a more united movement under the leadership of the Central Council of Trade Unions (CRZZ) and Communist Party. One speaker we met described this as a period of the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ and 98% union membership with considerable influence. Solidarnosc (NSZZ) rose as a social movement to bring down socialism and in effect the established trade union order. This led to a civil war in the country and the CRZZ was dissolved in 1981. The political crisis was such that martial law was introduced on 13th December 1981 and trade unions were banned. In October 1982 the New Trade Union Act (NTUA) was passed as the basis for forming trade unions. (Martial law was suspended December 1982). The NTUA appears to give what to us is an extraordinary set of rules governing trade union formation and organisation. Basically a trade union can only exist and be registered and recognised at workplace level. While only 10% of the workforce is required to join a trade union in order to establish it and get it recognised, the consequences for regional, national and even local collective bargaining are disastrous. Bargaining is at enterprise level even within the same industry or service. Outside the teaching union, and the central bank’s unions, no union is engaged in national collective bargaining as we understand it.

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