Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

working conditions). Also institutionalised and culturally traded gender roles exert an
impact here.
I noticed two important differences to the German case. Jump factors do not play such a
huge role for the early exit trend in Poland. E.g., if women exit earlier than men, it is
considered by the interviewees as a just compensation for their double burden (and thus,
both a pull factor in the meaning of entitlement mentality, and a push factor in the meaning
of early wear due to that double burden). Another explanation for the dominant exit pattern
of women can be found in scholarly literature – the pursuit of the ´alternative role´
(Offe/Hinrichs 1984) of grandmothers is induced more by economic necessity (young
families rely on their parents to make up for the decreasing number of child care facilities;
Surdej/Ślęzak 2009: 170-1) and by the dominant family model which has the character of a
norm and an informal institution (Pfau-Effinger et al. 2009: 195, 199).
Another important distinction to the German case is the fact that the participation of
older workers in early exit has a more existential dimension in Poland than in Germany.
Confronted with the threat of unemployment and possibly ensuing poverty, the take-up of
the (low) pre-retirement benefit is a means of both escaping the unwanted label of
´unemployed´ and the means of securing a living. That has to do with the institution of
unemployment protection in Poland which is provided only for six till maximally 18
months (see section 3.3.2.). Moreover, personnel reductions in Poland had a larger scope
than in Germany and were accompanied by the threat of shop closure; correspondingly, the
pressure on older workers to retreat in order to secure workplaces for the young was higher.
Hypothesis 6 (see section 2.1.) is supported. The personnel policy of Polish firms is not
prepared for the prolongation of working life and will rather thwart such a development.
Personnel policy of Polish firms is deficient in many respects and lacks a long-term
strategic orientation, let alone elements of an age management strategy.
Hypothesis 7 (see section 2.4.) can be answered in a founded way only at the example
of Firm PL-9, where I interrogated chairmen of two among the four trade unions existing in
the company. On that example, it is falsified, as the cooperative versus antagonistic
relationship between the management and the respective trade unions was sparked by
varying positions on what is good or bad for the workforce rather than by inter-union
rivalry. That can be explained with the historically founded adversarial positions of
employers as representatives of the ruling party under communism and of the Solidarity
trade union (Tuszyńska 2003: 146), which was the antagonistic partner of labour relations
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