Marlena Maląg – Minister of Family and Social Policy, Vice-President of the Social Dialogue Council took part in the plenary session of the Council, which was devoted to the situation of education and education workers in the light of the implemented reforms and the need to include large groups of migrants in the education system and the amendment of the Polish Order in the field of the tax system. The meeting took place on 30 March 2022 at the Social Partnership Centre „Dialog”. The meeting was attended by Bogna Janke – Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President, Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak – Secretary of State in the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy, Dariusz Piontkowski – Secretary of State in the Ministry of Education and Science, Artur Soboń – Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance, Karol Rabenda – Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of State Assets, Mariusz Jerzy Golecki – Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Development and Technology.

Deputy Minister D. Piontkowski informed about the bill being processed in parliament

on the regulation of teachers’ salaries and proposals for their increase. The project assumes an increase in teachers’ salaries from May this year by 4.4 percent, as in the entire budgetary sphere. Currently, the draft bill is waiting for the opinion of the Senate.

Then Deputy Minister D. Piontkowski presented solutions that will facilitate the admission of students from Ukraine to schools. He noted that on March 12 this year, a law was passed on assistance to Ukrainian citizens in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of this country, the aim of which is, m.in, to facilitate the education of Ukrainian students in Polish primary and secondary schools. According to the government, in the preparatory departments, Ukrainian children should learn Polish in particular at the rate of six hours a week. In the further part of the speech, he presented statistical data showing that over 147,000 children from Ukraine were enrolled in the Polish education system, including 111,000 to primary schools, over 23,000 to kindergartens, over 9,000 to general secondary schools and over 2,000 to technicians. He pointed to the problems associated with the uneven distribution of refugees from Ukraine. Most of them go to large cities, which causes emerging problems in the education system. He noted that in consultation with local governments, it was possible to create additional locations of schools using buildings not used so far for educational purposes. He also referred to the issue of taking students from Ukraine to the eighth-grader exam and the matriculation exam.

This was followed by a discussion with the social partners. According to the trade unions, changes should be made in the way teachers are remunerated and parliamentary work should be undertaken on a citizens’ project on equalizing the average salary among teachers with an average salary in the economy. In addition, the trade union side expects an increase in expenditure on education and upbringing. They advocate linking teachers’ salaries to the average salary in the national economy.

Representatives of the employers’ side informed about the signals regarding disorganization in schools resulting from the admission of Ukrainian children to schools. At the same time, employers opt for maximum support for war refugees. In addition, the completion of the current school year by Ukrainian children in a remote mode was considered. Such a solution will allow for the launch of preparatory wards and then enabling learning from September 1 this year together with Polish children.

Problems related to vocational training were also pointed out, which concern, m.in, the adaptation of children to full-time learning after returning from remote learning, the lack of incentives for schools providing practical vocational training under employment contracts for the purpose of vocational training, unequal treatment of employers who pursue practical vocational training, the double core curriculum of general education.

Minister M. Malag, taking the floor in the discussion, informed that the law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of this country allows primarily Ukrainian citizens to legally stay in Poland for 18 months also with full access to work. She pointed out that young workers from Ukraine will be treated equally as juveniles in Poland. Then she presented data (as of March 29 this year) which show that more than 21,000 Ukrainian citizens have already started work, more than 900 people have been registered as job seekers and about 8,000 Ukrainians have expressed their willingness to take advantage of professional activation in order to work.

She emphasized that most people found employment in large cities: Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan and the government will continue to promote, through possible channels, to reach job offers for Ukrainian citizens as widely as possible.

The next item on the agenda was the amendment of the Polish Governance in the field of the tax system. Information in this respect was presented by Deputy Minister A. Soboń. He stressed that the proposed changes are a response to the voices and needs of taxpayers, including entrepreneurs. He noted that the new solutions are to ensure predictability of tax settlements and reduce taxes. He listed the most important changes included in the draft act amending the Personal Income Tax Act and some other acts: m.in, lowering the PIT rate from 17% to 12% for taxpayers on the tax scale; elimination of the so-called relief for the middle class, exclusion of the health insurance premium from the tax base for taxpayers on a flat tax, lump sum and tax card, return to joint settlement with the child in the case of single parents, securing revenues from 1% of the tax due to public benefit organizations. He also mentioned that the planned date for the entry into force of the above-mentioned solutions is July 1, 2022.

In the further part of the meeting, representatives of individual organizations took the floor. Among the problems raised were, m.in, leaving the form of taxation of the so-called tax card, revising flat-rate tax rates and changes in corporate income tax. In addition, attention was paid to the issues of deducting the health contribution from income and tax solutions for single parents.

The organizations announced that they will forward their opinions to the Ministry of Finance.

In the last part of the meeting, a representative of the Ministry of Climate and Environment presented information on the implementation of Resolution No. 100 of the employers’ and employees’ side of the Social Dialogue Council on the draft act amending the Act on packaging and packaging waste management and some other acts implementing the EU Directive on Extended Producer Responsibility (ROP).

Source: http://www.dialog.gov.pl/aktualnosci/art,1332,posiedzenie-plenarne-rady-dialogu-spolecznego.html

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.