La situación de los sindicatos polacos en la actualidad: la pérdida progresiva de influencia

Abstract

The following article gives a brief resume of the present Polish trade-unions panorama. It begins with the activity of the unions from the factory management level, underlining its scarce presence outside state companies. The hostility of business management in the private sector and the loss of confidence among workers has resulted in a rapid fall in affiliation, which places the unions in an ever weakening situation. The waves of strikes carried out in the nineties seem to be a thing of the past, giving rise to a stage of progressive demobilization. Determined, particularly conflictive sectors, such as the mines, the steel industry and shipyards have not abandoned their protests, but they have not managed to halt the plans of restructuring already tackled by successive governments under the European Union pressure. The loss of influence of the greater trade-unions has obliged these to redefine their strategies specified, up until the present, in function of political battles more than in the workers’ interests. The loss of credibility in which their recent electoral adventures have resulted, above all, in the case of Solidarnosc, seems to lead to a redefinition of their objectives which, according to official discourse, will go back to centering on strictly union work. This proposal, however, is not exactly new. Among the necessary changes to make this possible figure some so complex as the relaunching of the tripartite dialogue and the overcoming of the interminable conflicts that face the different union organizations.