The need to amend the Act on informing and consulting employees as well as the functioning of works councils was discussed on June 23, 2021 in the Senate during the meeting of the Sustainable Development Team. The debate, conducted in a hybrid mode with the online participation of Deputy Chief Labor Inspector Dariusz Mińkowski, inaugurated the 3rd National Forum of Workers’ Councils. Deputy Chief Labor Inspector Dariusz Mińkowski presented the results of the National Labor Inspectorate’s control of the functioning of employee councils in Poland, carried out in nearly one hundred enterprises in 2017–2018. In the case of over half of the entities, violations were found, which included, inter alia, in the absence of consultations on the organization of work or regulations with works councils, failure to provide the councils with relevant information and cover with business secrets, failure to conduct elections or violating the rights of members of works councils, as well as underestimating the provisions of the Act. The inspections also revealed low activity of works councils and a limited scope of their functioning. – Employers do not know and understand the issues related to employee councils and have doubts as to the type of information that should be provided to councils – emphasized Dariusz Mińkowski. In the opinion of the Deputy Chief Labor Inspector, from the perspective of several years of the functioning of the Act, it is clearly necessary to clarify the provisions regulating relations between trade unions and works councils, as well as the need to specify the obligations of employers. Particularly, art. 13 and 14 of the Act on informing and consulting employees, concerning the information obligation and consultation with employee councils. An information campaign for employers should also be carried out. During the meeting, the need to increase the supervision of the National Labor Inspectorate over the implementation of the Act on informing employees and conducting consultations with them was emphasized. There was also talk of low legal awareness not only among employers but also among employees themselves, indicating that without the knowledge of employees, councils will not function well, because their functioning is a right and not an obligation. Bogdan Borusewicz, Deputy Speaker of the Senate, recalled that it was the Senate who initiated the passing of the act regulating the functioning of workers’ councils 15 years ago. Today, the act requires changes and adjustments to the current realities. The chairman of the Senate Team for Sustainable Development, Senator Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, expressed satisfaction with the fact that there are currently about 700 employee councils in Poland. They are jointly responsible for the companies in which they operate, representing employee interests. The ability to reconcile the views of employers and employees in the process of co-management of the company is, according to the senator, one of the Polish showpieces, with a long tradition dating back to the times of NSZZ „Solidarity”. Representatives of employees from other Central and Eastern European countries studied on the Polish example.

Source: https://www.pip.gov.pl/pl/wiadomosci/126339,debata-o-radach-pracowniczych.html

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