Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

THE POLITICS OF LABOUR MARKET ADJUST-
MENT IN POST-1989 POLAND
17
The tax on wage increase (popiwek), was initially targeting
the total wage bill of enterprises, which came at the expense of
employment. It was revised in 1991 to target average individual
wages.
24
Changes in labour law in 2002 ‘were meant to reduce bureaucracy
in labour relations, reduce the costs associated with hiring of
workers, and to increase the flexibility of working time.’ (MEL
2004: 20)
18
Such a measure aimed to foster youth employment, at a time
when unemployment was exceeding 40% for people in the 15-24
age range.
19
To be compared with 34% in Spain (lowest in the EU) and
37% in the UK, where the minimum wage is a relatively recent
introduction. In Poland, the 1997-1998 pension reform
established an anti-poverty social safety net by introducing a
minimum pension fixed at a level of 35% of the average wage.
20
This sub-section draws on McMenamin (2005) who specifically
studied business lobbying in relation to the reform of
the labour code in this period. Given the difficulty to reconstruct
a policy process ex post as time passes, since it implies tracing
the individuals who were involved and relying on their possibly
distorted memories, his work based on a series of interviews
carried out closer to the events provides extremely valuable
information.
25
Prime Minister Marek Belka presented a document on the
government projected economic strategy, Marek Kossowski,
undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Economy presented
the ‘Entreprise above all’ programme and Minister of Economy
Jerzy Hausner presented the ‘First job’ programme (Communiqué
of the Tripartite Commission 28.01.02)
26
On this occasion, it seems that the representative of NSZZ
Solidarność, J. Sniadek, who was sitting at the Tripartite Commission
on behalf of his organization took a stance that was
invalidated by the rest of the union leadership. His position was
rejected by the Presidium.
27
Between several thousands and several tens of thousands
people demonstrated on 26 April 2002, depending on sources
(Gardawski 2002b).
21
The Confederation of Private Employers (Polska Konfederacja
Pracodawcow Prywatnych – PKPP Leviatan), which later
became the leading employers organization, was founded only
in 1999.
28
This could only be done until the date of accession since it
breaches European rules defining minimum employment
standards, including a restriction on the number of consecutive
fixed-term contracts.
22
SMEs are an important segment of the Polish economy: they
constituted 95% of all enterprises and employed 50% of the
working population in 2002
29
Later, however, Hausner expressed his difficulty to work
with the new Prime Minister Marek Belka, who, an economist
himself, kept challenging the decisions and views of the super-
Ministry of Economy.
page 150
23
The economic programme of the new government
consisted of three packages: ‘Enterprise above all’
(Przede wszystkim przedsiebiorczosc), ‘First Job’
(Pierwsza Praca) and ‘Infrastructure – the key to
development’ (Infrastruktura- klucz do rozwoju).
The latter is not directly of interest. ‘First Job’ is a
programme to support jobs for young labour market
entrants.
30 Regulation of the Council of Ministers on the creation of the
Commission for the Codification of Labour Law, 20 August
2002 (Dz U 2002/139 item 1167).