Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

4.3.6. Termination of the Work Contract 54
A side effect of the transition from plan to market was the shedding of excess
employment and outsourcing of expensive social facilities like hostels, kindergartens and
resorts (Morecka 2003: 300). That happened also in the firms in my sample.
Correspondingly, the interviews in Polish firms generated a lot of material on the personnel
policy at the end of the work life. During the period of interviews, seven firms were cutting
staff levels, and six others had done that shortly before. Mass lay-offs (which occur,
according to Polish law, when within a month, at least 10% of workers in a firm with less
than 300 workers are released, or at least 30 workers in a larger firm; Patulski et al. 2004:
62) have occurred in the recent history of nine firms. That entailed twofold consequences
which are of interest for the topic of my study. Firstly, the age structure of the firms was
´compressed´ to middle-aged groups, as older workers were preferably released, and a
hiring freeze blocked the inflow of young workers. Secondly, workers who had made the
experience of personnel reductions in often dramatic circumstances (interviewees spoke of
a „terrible massacre of the innocents” and of suicides as a result of dismissals) were
afterwards more prone to make use of available early exit options for fear of next dismissals
and ensuing unemployment. I will elaborate on that phenomenon in the next section dealing
with workers´ exit preferences.
Before turning to personnel reductions, I will describe the general mode of terminating
the work contract of older workers.
In distinction to Germany, work contracts or collective agreements do not include the
formulation that the employment relationship is cancelled upon reaching standard
retirement age. In fact, several firms allowed to continue work past retirement age, while in
a few others, workers who did not voluntarily retire upon reaching their 60th (women),
respectively 65th year (men) were encouraged to do so. However, most employers
encourage their older workers to leave the establishment in pre-retirement age. Often, that
occurs in accordance with the workers themselves and is even initiated by them (see section
4.3.7.), but in other cases, it amounts to active pushing out by the employer.
Older workers are protected by law four year prior to retirement age. I noticed that it is
open to interpretation whether the earliest or the standard retirement age is regarded. Three
54 This chapter partly draws on Aleksandrowicz 2006. Several changes were made due to the meanwhile
conducted interviews with shop stewards which have shed more light on the procedure of personnel
reductions and clarified some things.
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