Czarzasty, Jan
Arms industry reacts to cuts in public spending
14 Juni 2009
With the continuing economic slowdown precipitated by the global economic
crisis, the Polish government was forced to amend the national budget and
reduce its expenditure plans for 2009. Subsequently, the Ministry of Defence
(Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej, MON [1]) announced that the funds allocated
to modernising the army – including the purchase of new equipment – would
amount to only PLN 2.2 billion (€485 million as at 3 June 2009) instead of
PLN 4.7 billion (€1 billion), as planned initially. The Ministry of
Internal Affairs and Administration (Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i
Administracji, MSWiA [2]) also lost a considerable share of its originally
planned budget.
[1] http://www.mon.gov.pl
[2] http://www.mswia.gov.pl
Latest amendments to Labour Code enter into force
01 April 2009
In late 2008, Polish legislators made two consecutive amendments to the
Labour Code. The parliament introduced significant alterations to the labour
law regarding vital issues such as equal opportunities [1] in employment,
maternity leave [2], parental leave [3], workplace safety and social benefits
at workplace level. The first series of amendments were passed into
legislation in November 2008, while the second series of modifications were
adopted in December. In both cases, the new regulations came into effect in
January 2009.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/equal-opportunities
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/maternity-leave
[3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/parental-leave
Two in three companies do not provide vocational training
23 November 2008
Poland’s education system is regarded as being oriented towards general
skills, and the institutional links connecting schools and workplaces are
relatively weak. Furthermore, since the early 1990s, the number of students
in vocational schools has been declining: from over 800,000 persons in the
school year 1990/1991 to some 240,000 students in 2005/2006. This development
is combined with a diminishing number of vocational schools, from more than
2,500 schools in 1990/1991 to some 1,800 schools in 2005/2006.
Polish shipyards flounder as EU demands return of state aid
06 Oktober 2008
Following Poland’s entry to the EU in May 2004, restructuring and,
ultimately, privatisation of the shipbuilding industry remains one of the key
issues facing the Polish government with regard to heavy industry. Due to the
interaction of economic and political factors, the restructuring of Polish
shipyards was not concluded at the time of the country’s EU accession.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the Polish shipyard industry received a
considerable amount of national state funding. Due to the protracted
restructuring process, state support continued to be granted after Poland
joined the EU. As an EU Member State, Poland must now comply with European
regulations on public aid; accordingly, continued support to the shipyards
after 2004 was made conditional on the Polish government’s preparation of a
restructuring and privatisation programme and downsizing of output capacity.
If this condition is not fulfilled, European regulations state that the
enterprises concerned must return all of the state aid they received after
Poland’s accession to the EU.
Social partners reach agreement on minimum wage for 2009
21 September 2008
In recent years, Poland’s economy has been growing at a fast rate. The
economic boom has been reflected in shrinking unemployment and rising wage
pressure. Not surprisingly, the latter trend has affected the national
minimum wage: in the autumn of 2007, on the eve of parliamentary elections,
the government concluded a separate agreement with the Independent and
Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek
Zawodowy Solidarność, NSZZ Solidarność [1]), stipulating that the gross
minimum monthly wage would be raised by almost 13%, from PLN 936 (about
€279 as at 3 September 2008) to PLN 1,126 (€336) as of 1 January 2008
(*PL0709019I* [2]). Prior to this move by the government, the Tripartite
Commission had failed to reach agreement on increasing the minimum wage, and
as a result the decision was put into the government’s hands, in accordance
with the Minimum Wage Act.
[1] http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/union-signs-agreement-to-raise-minimum-wage-and-increase-public-sector-pay
Agreement on pay rises ends collective dispute at Opel Gliwice
27 Januar 2008
The Opel plant in Gliwice in the Upper Silesia region of southern Poland,
which is part of the General Motors (GM [1]) group, ranks among the largest
automobile manufacturing plants in Poland, and it is also one of the major
units of its parent company in Europe. GM’s Polish subsidiary was
established in 1991, originally as Opel Polska; the production facilities in
Gliwice launched operations in 1998, initially as an assembly plant, and
gradually developed into a major manufacturing plant with an annual output of
over 180,000 vehicles of the Opel [2] brand and more than 3,200 staff on the
payroll in 2006.
[1] http://www.gm.com/
[2] http://www.opel.com.pl/site/index.html
Telework in Poland
20 Dezember 2007
In August 2007, the Polish Labour Code was amended in order to introduce
telework into the Polish legal framework by adding a new chapter entitled
‘Employment in the form of telework’. Article 67/5 Paragraph 1 of the
Labour Code defines telework as follows:
Union signs agreement to raise minimum wage and increase public sector pay
21 Oktober 2007
In the past few years, tripartite social dialogue in Poland has had a
difficult road to follow. In the autumn of 2007, it is facing yet another
obstacle – one of the major national trade unions, namely the Independent
and Self-Governing Trade Union ‘Solidarity’(Niezależny Samorządny
Związek Zawodowy ‘Solidarność’, NSZZ Solidarność [1]), concluded a
separate agreement with the government outside of the Tripartite Commission
for Social and Economic Affairs (Trójstronna Komisja ds.
Społeczno-Gospodarczych). Under this new agreement, the following provisions
apply:
[1] http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl
General support for lower retirement age
23 September 2007
Under current regulations, the statutory retirement age is 65 years for men
and 60 years for women. However, certain professional groups are entitled to
early retirement schemes. Such privileges are mainly granted to employees
performing jobs in hazardous working conditions. The main professions
eligible for early retirement schemes under various legislative acts include
teachers, miners, railway workers, police officers, soldiers and
firefighters.
Pay disputes in public health sector escalate
19 August 2007
Following Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004, the country has experienced
a long period of economic prosperity. For example, Poland’s annual gross
domestic product (GDP) growth rate reached almost 6% in 2006, while
unemployment dropped from almost 20% in April 2004 to 13% in May 2007. Not
surprisingly, the steady improvement in the country’s economic situation
has prompted a new wave of pay demands. Economic experts describe the
employees’ pay demands as legitimate, pointing to the fact that in the
years prior to the current phase of economic growth, labour productivity grew
at a much faster pace than pay. This is reflected by a study by the Institute
of Labour and Social Issues (Instytut Pracy i Spraw Socjalnych, IPiSS [1]),
which finds that labour productivity increased by 28.5%, while average pay
levels rose by only 7.3% over the period 2001 to 2005. However, as long as
unemployment levels remained high, employers were able to largely disregard
workers’ pay demands. Conversely, once the labour market situation began to
improve, the capacity of the ‘unemployment factor’ to limit pay demands
gradually diminished.
[1] http://www.ipiss.com.pl