Chapter 6: Politics and Employment Relations: The Power of Labour in Poland after the Fall of Communism

Roderick Martin

Abstract

This chapter looks at the part played by Polish organized labour in the development of the country s political and economic system. It provides an overview of the changes in employment relations after 1989, analyzes the main elements of the current system and examines the extent to which the labour movement influenced the design and establishment of the central institutions of the present political and economic system. One of the main conclusions is that the position of the labour movement in Poland was more favourable than elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe during the years following the collapse of communism, but that it has considerably lost influence since then.