Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

policy, as they have experience on the old, communist system of further training which was
regarded in some respects as better by both the employee representatives and management.
Trade unions have little impact on issues of health management, and are not very
committed to that issue. At national level, Brown et al. (2001: 254) even reached the
conclusion that trade unions in Poland „oppose investments into occupational health as
competing with their primary concerns such as employment security, compensation, and
social benefits“.
A special role had fallen to trade unions in the process of privatisation of state-owned
enterprises (Towalski 2003; Gąciarz/Pańków 1996; Siewierski 1993). I will remark on it to
the degree that it concerned personnel reductions and early exit.
An exemplary case of the influence of trade unions on the privatisation process forms
Firm PL-9. In 1992, the firm was commercialised, which is a preliminary stage of
privatisation. Due to ensuing restructuring, the trade unions in the firm put pressure on the
Ministry to release the CEO, and consented to privatisation by a Western European
investor. In exchange for the agreement, the workers received 15 per cent of shares and a
privatisation premium and seven-year employment guarantees starting from mid-1998.
During that time, only voluntary exit of workers were possible, and a hiring freeze was
instituted.
Employment guarantees were also introduced in three other firms, ranging from two till
five years. Such guarantees were however only possible if the firm had gone through the
state of commercialisation, i.e. was owned by the state. A Social Plan in case of mass layoffs
– which were possible in the absence of employment guarantees – could be negotiated
only in firms with a majority shareholder. In firms where that had not been the case (e.g. in
Firm PL-12 before acquisition by the US American owner, or in Firm PL-13), personnel
reductions were especially severe, and the power of trade unions to steer the process was
lowest.
In some firms, trade unions suggested to release workers with an entitlement to social
security benefits in the first place, even against the resistance of older workers. The
motivation was to secure workplaces for remaining workers, to create vacancies for
younger applicants, and to lower the average age of the workforce.
Such examples of co-management are sign of the change in labour relations at firm level
from confrontation to negotiation (Siewierski 1993: 144). Trade unions have reached the
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