Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

following the structure of past sections. I will close this section with an assessment of
hypothesis 7.
Trade unions have lost ground in Polish enterprises in the course of transformation of
the Polish economy and privatisation of state enterprises (see section 3.3.5.; Jarosz 1997:
65). Also the unionisation ratios have fallen, a.o. due to the connotation of the Solidarity
trade union with unfavourable changes in the economy in the opinion of many Poles
(Tuszyńska 2003: 147-8).
In my firm case studies, several shop stewards and also one personnel manager reported
a decreased impact of trade unions after privatisation. New regulations in the Labour Code
since 2005 have deprived shop-level trade unions of co-decision power in the case of mass
lay-offs – they may still give an opinion on the workers selected for dismissal, but the
employer does not have to respect it, as was reported by two interviewees. Trade unions
have also lost in power due to falling membership numbers. Reasons were downsizing,
outsourcing or a general decrease of interest in union policy (e.g. in a transportation
equipment company, membership decreased within 3 years from 400 to 100 persons).
However, in some firms the power of trade unions has been preserved, owing to the
importance of the sector for the national economy (energy sector), or to internal traditions
of cooperative relations. The latter situation was most likely to happen in firms with a long
history and many long-standing workers and thus with a “small distance” between
employer and employee (Bartscher-Finzer/Martin 1998: 131-2).
Trade unions in the surveyed Polish companies have only limited co-decision power on
recruitment issues. They exert it during personnel reductions by enforcing a hiring freeze
in order to protect incumbent workers, and by encouraging preferential recruitment of
internal candidates. In two firms, shop-level trade unions had a somewhat larger impact
upon recruitment matters resulting from the public ownership structure, resp. from internal
traditions of cooperative relations.
The impact of shop-level trade unions on further training was even lower and was
reported only by shop stewards from a utility (with a traditionally higher impact of
employee representatives upon company policy) and another firm with internal traditions of
cooperative relations. There, trade unions serve as internal auditors and consultants. E.g.,
the trade unions in the utility play the role of a referee and consultant on issues of training
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