Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

no longer lingering (Firm PL-2), change from coal heating to gas and oil (Firm PL-8),
raising of the roof so that fumes can escape (Firm PL-3). The constantly improving
occupational safety, which started from a very low level after the transition, and the
improving working conditions create a clear opportunity for the prolongation of working
life both in terms of actual risk exposure and in terms of institutional incentives – the
´upgrading´ of certain positions in terms of occupational safety has excluded their holders
from the entitlement to early old-age pensions, as the workplaces are no longer defined as
´special´.
A downside to the transition process were savings on the firms´ own health centres and
health resorts (also observed at aggregated level by Morecka 2003: 300). Moreover, several
shop stewards reported that work intensity has risen due to change to a performance-related
pay or more stringent performance criteria. Computerisation has crowded out many harmful
blue-collar positions and work consists now mostly of supervising machines which requires
alertness.
A typical example of that double-sided development is Firm PL-9. Before the transition,
machine operators worked regularly 260-400 hours per month due to continuous shift work and low
observation of laws. Currently, the interviewed trade unionist reported regular working hours but
nevertheless regards shift work as much more stressing, as there are less workers per one machine
(before, there was time for sleep during the shift), broad specialisation bears a risk of occupational
accidents, and the performance requirements have risen. Therefore, psychical health impairments
are on the increase in the firm.
Another negative effect of the transition and privatisation was the decrease of sheltered
workplaces in the studied Polish facilities. That process could be observed also in German
firms (see section 4.2.5.) but was more pronounced in Poland as overstaffed business units
had to be shed. Although sheltered workplaces are not recommended by labour medicine
due to their de-qualifying character (Dworschak 2006: 212), they nevertheless constitute in
my opinion an opportunity for the prolongation of working life for incapacitated workers
who have not yet reached retirement age.
The negative effects of the shedding of sheltered workplaces could be observed in a
transportation equipment company. According to the shop steward, no worker reaches retirement
age nowadays. Before, the firm employed 8,000 persons and an alternative workplace could always
be found in case of work incapacity or closure of the workstation.
In distinction to Germany, there were more firms in the Polish sample in which
internalisation strategies towards workers with decreased workability coexisted with
externalisation strategies. Moreover, quite often substitution strategies were used.
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