Polish unions win representation right

Poland’s highest court has ruled that current legislation stating that only those with an employment contract can join unions, is not in line with articles in the country’s constitution which guarantees the freedom to join a union.

The case was taken by OPZZ, one of Poland’s two largest union confederations, after a ruling by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that Polish law breached ILO conventions on the freedom of association.

Large numbers of people work on civil rather than employment contracts in Poland. The official figures show 1.25 million people working in this way, and this is a significant underestimate as the figures relate only to organisations with at least nine employees.

In total, between 1.4 million and 1.6 million people are probably employed on civil contracts. And, like the self-employed and agency workers who are not directly employed, they currently have no right to join unions.

The issue of workers on civil contracts is also important because their pay and conditions are generally poor.

The judgment has been welcomed by the unions. Jan Guz, head of OPZZ, said that “everyone who is working should have the right to join and get organised in a union”.

However, as a spokesperson for Solidarnosc, the other major union confederation, has pointed out, the constitutional court’s decision is “just the start of the road”, adding that a lot will depend “on how the government … turns this decision into legislation”.