Czarzasty, Jan

The re-emergence of conflict in the coal-mining sector, noticeable pay pressure, significant changes to labour law and the new child benefit are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in Poland in the first quarter of 2016.

Protests against the giant retail chain Biedronka and online retailer Amazon Poland were the latest notable manifestations of the adversarial nature of industrial relations in private companies.

In June 2015, major changes in Poland's labour law in Poland give self-employed the right to join a union and put a limit on the number of fixed-term employment contracts and their duration. In June 2015, two important developments oc...

The draft regulations prevent the employment of workers on a fixed-term basis for more than three years and set notice periods based on the length of time employed.

On 1 January, new tripartite bodies known as ‘labour market councils’ (rady rynku pracy) officially began their operations. The new bodies replace the former employment councils (rady zatrudnienia). Labour market councils have b...

Disputes were triggered following the announcement of mine closures in Kompania Węglowa and by the revoking of collective agreements by the board of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa.

Poland’s economy did not fall into recession after the 2008 global financial crisis, although its overall economic performance did deteriorate compared with the early post-accession years.

Since 2011, the poor quality of social dialogue in Poland has led to clashes between the government and major trade unions on a number of subjects. They have disagreed on proposed reforms to the retirement age, the minimum wage, atypical employment and working time (*PL1202029I*).

The car manufacturing plant *Fiat Auto Poland* (FAP [1]) at Tychy in Poland’s Silesia region is owned by the giant Italian car maker FIAT [2]. FAP’s predecessor, Fabryka Samochodów Małolitrażowych (FSM), had been involved in the production of cars under the FIAT brand from 1972. In 1992, FSM was bought by the Italian company and became known as FIAT Auto Poland. [1] http://www.fiat.pl/ [2] http://www.fiatspa.com/en-US/Pages/Home.aspx

Following the last two EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007, the labour markets of the original 15 EU countries (EU15) were opened to workers from the new Member States (NMS). Fears of an influx of cheaper labour from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region spread in the EU15 countries. Those fears were reinforced by some dubious practices in the labour market such as spurious or ‘bogus’ self-employment and the abuse of the status of posted workers [1]. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/posted-workers