Social Dialogue in Face of Changes on the Labour Market in Poland. From Crisis to Breakthrough

Poland has been building its market economy for slightly more than a quarter of a century and has been a member of the European Union for thirteen years. Currently, Poland can feel the results of the international crisis, but with some delay compared to the other European countries. Despite its stable economic development and relatively low unemployment, a deterioration in the quality of labour relations is noticeable, and what is more Poland recorded a rapid increase in such forms of atypical employment and fixed-term employment, reaching the highest levels among the EU countries. The result of the crisis in Poland was accompanied by the crisis of social dialogue institutions. In effect of this crisis the new Social Dialogue Council was created with the aim to enable tripartite dialogue in view of new challenges. The International Labour Organization came as an inspiration for many countries and the ILO Decent Work Agenda became a point of reference for the crisis. New challenges of social and economic development require sound public management with participation of social partners, trade unions and employers’ organisations. Jacek P. Męcina The reviewed book addresses a very wide range of problems related to labour relations and the labour market in Poland, presenting the experience of social dialogue in these areas as methods of solving such problems in everyday and crisis conditions. The publication is a comprehensive elaboration of labour law and labour market issues, taking into account the role of social dialogue, which should comply with the legal regulations of the ILO and the EU, and finally Polish legislation to be an important element of public policy management. In addition to interesting theoretical considerations, professor J. Męcina undertakes a number of practical issues, easily moving from institutional issues to public management. An advantage of this work is the presentation of statistical summaries and review of legislation in a broader international and the European context. This allows us to understand the distance that Poland has travelled since 1989, with opportunities, but also threats, which social dialogue allows to mitigate. Prof. dr hab. Marek Pliszkiewicz