Jakub Szmit

Representativeness in collective disputes: Unfinished (r)evolution?

The amendment to the trade union act, which entered into force on January 1, 2019, has undoubtedly made the most far-reaching changes in collective labour law since at least the late 1980s and early 1990s. One of the structures that has undergone transformations is the representativeness of trade unions at various levels. At the same time, the legislator amended the Act on the settlement of collective disputes, however, he has not decided to introduce representativeness to it as one of the requirements for conducting a collective dispute. The study is intended to attempt to answer the question whether this abstinence is justified or whether further changes to this act should be postulated, including in terms of taking into account the diversity of rights of trade union structures due to having representativeness. 

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31

Influence of the collective labour law reform on the practice of functioning of trade unions

On the date of entry into force (1 January 2019), the provisions of the Act of 5 July 2018 amending the Act on trade unions and certain other acts, a revolution in the Polish collective labour law took place (from that moment it is even legitimate to refer to it as collective employment law). Obviously, the new regulations have been thoroughly analysed in the doctrine. However, apart from a scientific perspective, it is also worth making an attempt to assess how they worked on the addressees in practice. First of all, it is about the broadly understood trade union movement. This study focuses on this aspect of the amendment to the Act on trade unions. The actual effects of the new boundaries of the coalition law are analysed, first of all, but also of other elements of the reform (e.g. rules regarding the verification of declarations on the number of company trade unions). The aim is to assess whether the reform has realized the hopes placed in it.

ASJC: 3308, JEL: K31