Marking the Field of Industrial Relations in Poland: Theoretical Inspirations and Research Traditions

The article aims at describing the theoretical inspirations and research traditions behind the evolution of industrial relations in Poland. The account of global theoretical debate since the emerging of the field in the first half of the 20th century is delivered, followed by the overview of academic debates and research concerning the field since the times of state socialism (1945–1989) until the present day in Poland. In the conclusion, it is stated that in theoretical terms the field of industrial relations has remained underdeveloped

Book review: Jerzy Wratny. Fenomen partycypacji pracowniczej w nurcie przemian stosunków pracy [Phenomenon of worker participation in the context of employment relations transformation]

There is no need to introduce Jerzy Wratny to Polish readers. For the international audience, some background information on the Author will be useful, nevertheless. Wratny has been for decades a leading researcher and critical analyst of industrial relations in the circle of Polish labour lawyers. With all due respect to many his eminent colleagues, Wratny’s writings have always stood out thanks to ‘sociological imagination’ – in the very sense defined by Mills (1959) – the Author showed. Sensitivity to the social context allows Wratny to adopt a broad perspective and see actual consequences of legal regulations in daily life, lifting his analyses above formalistic discussions the community of law scholars is often prone to.The book Fenomen partycypacji pracowniczej w nurcie przemian stosunków pracy [Phenomenon of worker participation in the context of employment relations transformation] is a monography devoted to evolution of worker participation in Poland

From Shipyard Workers to Young Precariat. Thirty Years of Research on Well-Ordered Economy at Warsaw School of Planning and Statistics (SGPiS)/Warsaw School of Economics (SGH)

The article provides a retrospective overview of quantitative survey research on economic mentaility conducted in the Warsaw School of Planning and Statistics (SGPiS), renamed Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) in 1990. The time span of the research covered in the article runs from 1986 – when the initial surveys were completed – until 2016. The main focus is kept on so-called ‘well-ordered economy index’ (a set of variables designed to serve as a tool for reconstructing the dominant normative visions of economy) and its evolution over three decades. The most significant observation made is that despite profound changes in the structure of Polish economy and society which took place since the final years of the authoritarian state socialism, the normative visions of economy as registered by the research in focus have remained relatively stable

The influence of collective employment relations on work accommodation: case studies in Estonia, Hungary and Poland

Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disabled employees that have been tailored to their specific situation within a workplace. This article, however, argues that there is potential for collective employment relations to motivate and enable social partners to develop a role in implementing reasonable accommodations and supporting older and disabled employees in the labour market. Focusing on industrial relations and work accommodation systems in Estonia, Poland and Hungary, the potential role that social partners could play in creating more inclusive workplaces is explored. This is done by reference to the findings from an action research project that brought together social partners to discuss ways in which practices in providing work accommodations could help better to integrate underutilised sources of labour in these three countries. The industrial relations regimes in the three countries have potentially enabling characteristics that could facilitate work accommodations. Current knowledge of the work accommodation process and the integration of this issue into the collective employment relations agenda, however, needs further improvement

Cheap is cheap, no matter what they say : collective bargaining and working conditions in outsourced services in Poland

Outsourcing services in Poland has been following the general trend in global economy and experienced dynamic development in the recent decade. According to the estimations currently there are over 700 Shared Services Centre (SSC) and Business Process Outsourcing (PBO) employing over 200 thousand employees in Poland. However, outsourcing phenomenon should not be limited only to relatively large companies delivering non-core services to its clients. Outsourcing occurs also among SMEs while subcontracting cleaning, security, IT or other companies. According to the European Company Survey around 20% of establishments in the European Union outsource part of their design and development, production, and sales and marketing activities, but full outsourcing is still rare (Eurofound 2015). Collective bargaining coverage is lower in outsourcing companies. This may lead to weaker workers protection, growth of wages disparities and segmentation of labour market. Objective of the study is to examine to what extent the growth in outsourcing is triggering coverage problems for workers in these outsourced services and what are the collective bargaining practices in case of collective agreements gaps. The analysis shows collective bargaining coverage in outsourced services in Poland with a view to: identify coverage problems related to outsourcing practices; study the capacity of existing institutions in dealing with them; analyse the incidence of coverage gaps across different groups of workers; analyse the strategies deployed by social partners in order to address these problems and provide actors with some policy guidance in order to ensure inclusive and effective coverage. For the purpose of the study security and health care sectors were investigated. Moreover a case study of the company 'FMC Poland' was elaborated in order to analyse collective bargaining practices at company level. Outsourcing activities are not a subject to special legal definitions or regulations. Companies offering such services operate under general terms of economic activity

Industrial relations in European hypermarkets: Home and host country influences

YesIn this article we examine the industrial relations practices of three large European food retailers when they transfer the hypermarket format to other countries. We ask, first, how industrial relations in hypermarkets differ from those in other food retailing outlets. Second, we examine how far the approach characteristic of each company’s country-of-origin (Germany, France and the UK) shapes the practices adopted elsewhere. Third, we ask how they respond to the specific industrial relations systems of each host country (Turkey, Poland, Ireland and Spain)

Working time in 2019-2020

Aquesta publicació s'elabora a partir de les contribucions de cadascú dels membres nacionals que integren la Network of Eufound Correspondent. Pel cas d'Espanya la contribució ha estat realitzada per l'Alejandro GodinoThe most relevant changes in working time regulation in Europe in 2019 and 2020 addressed challenges arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most focused on short-time working schemes, on approaches to teleworking for those able to work from home and on regulations to ensure the safe provision of essential services. In 2020, the average collectively agreed working week in the EU stood at 37.8 hours. Across the sectors analysed in the report, the collectively agreed normal working week was shortest in public administration (38 hours) and longest in transport (39.2 hours). Paid annual leave entitlement (taking into account those set through collective bargaining) stood at an average of 24.5 days across the EU. Key topics for discussion in all Member States during the COVID-19 pandemic included dealing with the impact of changes in working hours on different groups of workers and the role of working time in supporting economic recovery and job creation