Automotive trade unions sign cooperation agreement

Trade unions affiliated to the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union ‘Solidarity’, which are active in seven automotive companies, recently signed a cooperation agreement. The trade unions are demanding higher wages as well as a change in certain employment terms for workers. Trade union activists take the view that cooperation agreements of this kind can strengthen the position of each individual union in their negotiations with employers.

In September and October 2007, an agreement was signed between trade union organisations operating at seven companies in the automotive sector. The trade unions hope that, through a joint strategy, they can secure more substantial pay increases for the sector’s workers. They have also announced that they will seek larger overtime payments. Other demands include lower production norms for night-time shifts, along with greater additions to the basic wage, and entitlement to health leave after a shorter period in employment – for instance, after five years of employment.

In theory, such demands would normally be addressed through a multi-employer collective agreement; however, social dialogue at this level is quite rare in Poland.

Lack of multi-employer dialogue

Trade union activists in Poland wish to secure working conditions comparable to those enjoyed by their colleagues in western Europe. One aspect of these conditions concerns multi-employer social dialogue – a form of industrial relations which is practically non-existent in Poland’s automotive industry. While some efforts have been made to sign a multi-employer agreement with employers in the car industry, to date there is no labour regulation for the Polish automotive industry as a whole.

According to Sławomir Ciabara, Chair of the Regional Automotive Industry Section of the Independent and Self-governing Trade Union ‘Solidarity’ (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy Solidarność, NSZZ Solidarność), the employers are primarily responsible for this situation. One reason for this is that the sector’s employers are not well represented as a group. Mr Ciabara points out that the employers are ‘dispersed in several different associations’. At the same time, he emphasises that: ‘we know that the biggest ones, such as Fiat or Opel, are in the same association [the Polish Union of Private Employers of the Automotive Industry (Polski Związek Pracodawców Prywatnych Przemysłu Motoryzacyjnego i Ciągnikowego, RT)] … it would be good if employers in the industry had a single organisation.’

A second problem which the trade unions perceive is that employers from the automotive industry are generally not willing to approve of negotiations involving several employers. Mr Ciabara believes that: ‘if the employers were interested in dialogue with the unions, they would go ahead and embark upon it. What they really want to do is to reduce costs and to have cheap labour’.

Benefits of inter-union sectoral agreement

The agreement has been signed by seven in-house units of NSZZ Solidarność active at the following companies in Poland:

• ERSI Poland;

• General Motors Poland;

• Fiat Auto Poland;

• Isuzu Ispol Tychy;

• Magneti Marelli Poland;

• Toyota Seal Poland;

• Cablelettra Poland.

To date, all of the trade union organisations that entered into the pact are from the same region in Poland; however, the union activists are hopeful that the geographic outreach of their agreement will spread further. They believe that this form of cooperation offers a number of advantages. First, any trade union organisation involved in such an agreement will enjoy a stronger position in dealings with its own employer. The head of NSZZ Solidarność at the automotive company Isuzu Ispol Tychy highlights the following advantage in terms of pay increases:

In the course of negotiations, employers consult with one another, and they often compare the different companies. Then, they don’t agree to any pay raises, citing considerations of competitiveness. If pay raises are the same all around, the employers will no longer have this point in their favour.

While the negotiation of pay increases will still be left up to the individual trade union organisations, the agreement will enable them to better coordinate their efforts. The trade union officials also made it clear that, should negotiations with the employers fail, the agreement will make it easier to launch a coordinated strike.

Lack of response from employers

Employers from the automotive sector have not yet adopted an official position on the inter-union agreement, nor have they responded to requests for comments on this issue. It could be assumed that this lack of response is a deliberate strategy, as issuing any comments, whether positive or negative, could be tantamount to taking part in dialogue at the multi-employer level; it appears that the individual companies do not want to do this.

Commentary

The initiative discussed here is only a small part of the greater scheme of Polish industrial relations. Nonetheless, it provides an important insight into the country’s social dialogue system, in addition to the social partners’ approach to the issue of marginalising multi-employer negotiations. It should be added that the initiative is by no means idealistic; the recent dispute over wages at the General Motors plant in Gliwice in southcentral Poland demonstrates how the trade unions are searching for ways to strengthen their bargaining position in their dealings with employers.

Rafał Towalski, Institute of Public Affairs (ISP)