The influence of the European Union on the Range of Employees’ Management participation in the Companies from Poland
Abstract
Acknowledging the accession, and as a result,
joining the European Union in May 2004 required
Poland to make a number of changes, including a
number that related to labor rights. These changes
were partially based on resolving legal barriers in
Polish law in order to bring them into compliance
with the European Union's law. These efforts are
reflected in the laws related to the so-called
employee participation. Generally speaking, this
is the right of workers to co-manage and be
consulted in the activities of the enterprise for
which they work. The most important provisions
in this regard (those which Poland had to
implement in the past few years) are, among
others, the directives on the development of the
European Works Councils and on the right of
workers to establish councils of workers within
their company. When the European Parliament
and the Council of the European Union
established the directives which referred to
employee participation, it was the result of theÂ
promotion of social dialogue between
representatives of management and
representatives of workers (which is a particular
goal of the EU community and its member states).
Unfortunately, in Poland these rights are not
honored for the majority of employees.
References
Council Directive 2001/86/EC of 8 October 2001 supplementing the
Statute for a European company with regard to the involvement
of employees Council Regulation (EC) No. 2157/2001 of 8
October 2001 on the Statute for a European company (SE).
Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing
and consulting employees in the European Community.
Directive 2003/72/EC of 22 July 2003 supplementing the Statute for a
European Cooperative Society with regard to the involvement of
employees.
Directive 2009/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
May 2009 on the establishment of a European Works Council
or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and
Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of
informing and consulting employees (Recast), (Text with EEA
relevance).
European Parliament legislative resolution of 10 March 2009 on the
proposal for a Council regulation on the Statute for a European
Private Company (COM (2008) 0396 — C6-0283/2008 —
/0130(CNS)).
Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Private
Company, Brussels, 25.6.2008; 2008/0130 (CNS) KOM (2008)
Proposal for the European Parliament and the European Council of the
directive on establishing the European Works Council or a
procedure in community-scale companies and community-scale
groups of companies for the purposes of informing and
consulting employees (Brussels, 7.2.2008; com/2008/0419 finalcod
/0141).
Regulation (EC) No. 1435/2003 of 22 July 2003 on the Statute for a
European Cooperative Society (SCE).
The Act of 22 July 2006 on the European Cooperative Society (Journal
of Laws of 2006, No. 149, item. 1077, as amended).
The Act of 5 April 2002 on the European Works Councils (Journal of
Laws 2002, No. 62, item. 556, as amended).
The Act of 7 April 2006 on Employee Information and Consultation
(Journal of Laws of 2006, No. 79, item. 550, as amended).
The Act of 4 March 2005 on the European Economic Interest Grouping
and European Company (Journal of Laws 2005, No. 62, item.
.
http://stat.gov.pl/en/, The Central Statistical Office of Poland.
http://www.ewcdb.eu, The European Trade Union Institute.
http://www.dialog.gov.pl, The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy,
Department of Social Dialogue and Partnership.
http://www.krs-online.com.pl, The National Court Register.
