News

A focus group meeting was held online on 5 October 2023.

An important highlight of the workshop was the discussion of changes to the 2023 labour law, which had a serious impact on the principles of decent work. Among them were solutions for employee sobriety checks, remote working, worklife-balance or transparent and predictable employment conditions in the workplace.

One of the problems pointed out was the high turnover of Ukrainian workers, who often migrate in search of better working conditions. Very frequent communication problems were also pointed out, as a large proportion of refugees have no or very poor knowledge of the Polish language. Group members also raised the fact that in many cases it is the trade union that acts as a mediator between quarrelling workers of different nationalities. It is difficult to act in such situations, as everyone is guided by their own reasons and expectations. Sometimes so-called two camps are formed, i.e. Polish and Ukrainian workers in conflict with each other. Trade unionists also pointed to the role of employment agencies, which in many cases are the relevant employer, posting Ukrainian workers to work for the user employer.