Jan Czarzasty

Purpose: In the context of debates on trade union revitalization, the article explores the potential for boosting trade union membership in Poland by reaching out to women as a target group and tailoring union agendas accordingly. Design/methodology/approach: The article is based on the combination of literature review and the analysis of primary data derived from two focused group interviews within a production sector (steelworks: five informants; mattress sewing plant unit: five informants) and three in-depth interviews within the service sector (a small hotel: three informants). Findings: The analysis allows to identify a number of explicitly formulated expectations and indirectly expressed needs of the female workers in the context of their collective interest representation in the three industries covered. In particular, the workers interviewed emphasized such issues as addressing the issue of the gender pay gap, improving work-life balance and increasing the representation of women in management boards. They also stressed the need to encompass more platforms for discussions and social dialogue that raise the awareness of women's needs and expectations and lead to changes in stereotypes, helping to advance gender equality in the workplace. Originality/value: Based on original empirical research, the article contributes to the discussion on trade union revitalization in the context of fragmented industrial relations environment. It addresses how unions facing crisis can strategically move beyond their Fordist legacy by embedding themselves in new social contexts.

Purpose: In the context of debates on the role of social partners in shaping anti-crisis policies, the article explores the developments of social dialogue in Poland following the outbreak of the pandemic. The central research question is whether the crisis has helped to revitalise social dialogue or has it further revealed its weaknesses that were apparent before it.Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on the combination of literature review and the analysis of primary data derived from 22 expert interviews with the representatives of trade unions, employers and ministries collected in 2020–2021 in four essential industries (education, health care, social care and logistics).Findings: The analysis suggests that the pandemic led to reinforcement of “illusory corporatism” in Poland, deepened mistrust among social partners and triggered a shift to informal channels of influencing policymaking. The weakness of the social partners and the strong position of the right-wing populist government meant that fears of recession and a health crisis were insufficient to develop “crisis” corporatism. While business interests were represented better than labour in policymaking, limited labour-friendly outcomes have been achieved as a result of workers’ mobilisation and unilateral decisions of the government rather than tripartite social dialogue.Originality/value: Based on original empirical research, the article contributes to the discussion on the impact of the crisis on social dialogue under patchwork capitalism. It points to the role of strong governments and informality in circumventing tripartite structures and the importance of essential workers’ mobilisation in response to the lack of social dialogue.

Eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries joined the European Union in 2004, 2007 and 2013. While one of the objectives of European integration – economic convergence – has been at least partly achieved between new and old member states, it has not been accompanied by convergence in industrial relations systems (Delteil & Kirov, 2016). In fact, the characteristics of Eastern European capitalism and its subtypes vary across new member states (Bohle & Greskovits, 2012). Nevertheless, most of these countries share the common trend of eroding trade union membership and influence. Despite these trends, the social models in CEE countries were able to generate some compromises and responded to economic crises in the post-enlargement period, such as the Great Recession of 2008. Political responses to these crises reflected national institutional settings (Johnstone et al., 2019), and the role of trade unions in shaping anti-crisis measures varied across EU countries and industrial relations systems (e.g., Geary, 2015; Kahancová, 2013). During the COVID-19 pandemic, social partners in CEE have been active in efforts to mitigate the negative consequences of the economic downturn; however, evidence on the scope, scale, and effects of their roles in shaping policy responses to the pandemic remains scant.

This article explores the experiences of trade unions in Croatia and Poland with societal power resources as a source of trade union revitalisation in the post-2008 crisis period. In the context of limited structural, organisational and institutional power resources, Croatian and Polish trade unions attempted to build their societal power through the revitalisation strategies of coalition building and political action. The paper compares three similar, partially successful campaigns run in both countries, on pensions, Sunday trading and precarious work. Our findings show that gains in societal power alone cannot fully compensate for the erosion of conventional sources of trade union power. Such a configuration of power resources runs the danger of trade union demands being taken up by populist forces wanting to increase their own legitimacy, rather than furthering workers’ interests. Therefore, what starts as an attempt at union revitalisation based on the novel use of societal resources could easily end up as ‘captured innovation’ by populist forces.

This article deals with the dilemmas faced by trade unions from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the context of their relations with western European (EU-15) unions and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The issue of cross-border solidarity is re-examined, taking into account its historical meanings as well as current developments under the pressures of globalisation and EU integration. The article analyses key factors affecting East–West trade union relations – different views within the ETUC, discontinuities in European social dialogue, challenges faced by European works councils and the uncertain future of transnational company agreements. Major dilemmas CEE unions cope with vis-à-vis their western counterparts are outlined. The question of how to achieve a common interest platform for trade unions from Central and Eastern Europe and from western Europe is raised, followed by a suggestion that ‘downward convergence’ in industrial relations is bringing the two regions closer.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the interrelations between the evolution of industrial relations (IR) and IR research in Poland in the historical context. Two questions are put forward: How was the evolution of the IR system in Poland influenced by the re-constitution of a particular model of the capitalism and the strategies and struggle of IR actors? How were the ways of approaching and theorizing IR influenced by the aforementioned evolution? Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws upon academic literature, secondary data on actors and processes of IR as well as four expert interviews with the representatives of the first generation of IR scholars in Poland. Findings: The paper suggests that the development of the IR system and the related scholarship can be divided into three phases: the pre-1989 period characterised by the lack of autonomous interests representation and rather limited IR research; the early development of the post-1989 IR system marked by the debates on the integrative role of IR as peacekeeping mechanism in the period of deep economic and political changes (1989-2004); the post-EU accession consolidation of the IR system characterised by the weakness of the IR actors vis-à-vis the state and increasing neo-etatist tendencies. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the relationships between the emergent models of Eastern European capitalism and the evolution of IR systems. It critically analyses the state of the discussion on the IR field Poland emphasising the relevance of political-economic factors as well as the ideology of “social peace” for both the evolution of the IR system in the country and the state of the IR debate.