Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135) - Poland (Ratification: 1977)

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

The Committee notes the observations of the NSZZ “Solidarność”, received on 1 September 2022, on the application of the Convention, which relate to issues examined by the Committee in the present comment, and the Government’s comments thereon.

Article 1 of the Convention.Adequate protection of workers’ representatives against acts of discrimination related to their representative functions. Protection of representatives working under civil law contracts and self-employed persons. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted the allegations made by the NSZZ “Solidarność”, referring to the lack of protection against anti-union discrimination of trade union activists employed on civil law contracts or self-employed, and had noted, in this respect, that the Government had initiated the procedure for amending the Law on Trade Unions with a view to extending the protection to such persons. The Committee notes with interest that, as part of the extension of the right to establish and join trade union organizations to the “persons working for money”, the provisions of the Act, in particular section 32 that grants special protection to certain workers due to their trade union status, functions or activities, also applies to “persons working for money”. The Committee refers in this respect to its comments under Article 1 of the Right to organize and collective bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

Protection of non-union representatives. The Committee had previously noted that the NSZZ “Solidarność” allegations relating to the lack of effective protection of non-union representatives such as staff delegates and requested the Government to provide its comments in this regard. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the protection of employees’ representatives who do not belong to trade unions is regulated in various acts that regulate the establishment of employees’ representations, but that the protection under these acts does not apply to ad hoc representatives, i.e.the persons who perform representative functions on a one-time basis where it is necessary to cooperate with the employer in order to solve a given case.

Article 2. Facilities to be afforded to workers’ representatives. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s indication that in connection with the extension of the right to organize to “persons working for money”, the provisions of the Act, in particular section 25, related to the facilities granted to trade unions in the work establishment also apply to “persons working for money” who fulfil trade union functions.

The Committee further notes that, in its reply to the specific allegations of the NSZZ “Solidarność” relating to the absence of regulation of the right of trade union representatives to enter the work establishment, the Government confirms that this issue is not regulated and that a potential regulation requires consultations with social partners. Recalling that according to para, 12 of the Workers’ representatives Recommendation, 1971 (No. 143), workers' representatives in the undertaking should be granted access to all workplaces in the undertaking, where such access is necessary to enable them to carry out their representation function, the Committee requests the Government to adopt, in consultation with the representative social partners, provisions that recognize and regulate the right of trade union representatives to access the workplaces. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in this respect.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

The Committee notes the observations received on 3 September 2014 from the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarnosc”, as well as the Government’s comments thereon.

Article 1 of the Convention. Protection of workers’ representatives. The Committee notes that the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarnosc” denounces the lack of protection against anti-union discrimination of trade union activists working on the basis of civil law contracts and those that are self-employed. The Committee recalls that, in the framework of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the issue is being dealt with in so far as the need to extend the right to organize to all workers including self-employed and those working on civil law contracts is concerned; and that an ILO mission visited Poland in May 2014 to provide technical support in this regard. The Committee welcomes the Government’s indications that: (i) the Minister of Labour and Social Policy initiated legislative work on the draft bill amending the Act on Trade Unions by extending the right to coalition to include persons employed on the basis of civil law contracts and self-employed persons; and (ii) this amendment will entail the necessity to establish protective mechanisms that would guarantee the independence of those entities from the employers, and thus provisions ensuring protection against anti-union discrimination and sanctions for failure to comply with them will be added. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on developments in this respect.

Furthermore, the Committee notes that the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarnosc” alleges a lack of effective protection of non-union representatives such as staff delegates. In the absence of information provided by the Government in this respect, the Committee generally recalls that, according to Article 3, the guarantees afforded by the Convention, including the protection granted by Article 1, apply not only to trade union representatives but also to elected representatives, namely, representatives who are freely elected by the workers of the undertaking in accordance with provisions of national laws or regulations or of collective agreements and whose functions do not include activities which are recognized as the exclusive prerogative of trade unions in the country concerned. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments on the above allegations.

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

The Committee takes note of the Government's report and notes with satisfaction that the new Trade Union Act of 23 May 1991 ensures better application of the Convention.