Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Poland (Ratification: 1957)

The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government in its report.

1. Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that its previous comments concerned various prohibitions imposed upon civil service employees and civil servants by the Law on Civil Service, namely: section 69(2), prohibition on manifesting publicly political beliefs; section 69(3), prohibition on participating in strikes or actions of protest; and section 69(4), prohibition on performing functions within trade unions.

(a) The Committee takes due note of the Government’s statement responding to its previous request concerning section 69(2) that the restriction of the right to manifest in public one’s political opinions is no impediment for a member of the civil service fulfilling a trade union function to express in public within the framework of this function, his or her opinion on issues connected with politics and governmental policies in the economic and social sphere. The Government further explains that the provision is rather to be interpreted in such a manner that a member of the civil service may not express any preference for the programmes and activities of specific political formations and states that this provision is necessary to avoid situations where the opinion of a government administration employee could be mistaken as the official position of the concerned public authority.

(b) The Committee takes due note of the Government’s statement that section 69(3) of the Law on Civil Service does not deprive the members of the civil service corps of the right to strike, but prohibits their participation in such strikes or protest actions that would disturb the normal functioning of the office. The Committee recalls however that when legislation deprives public servants who exercise authority in the name of the state or workers in essential services of the right to strike, such workers lose an essential means of defending their interests and thus should be afforded appropriate guarantees to compensate for this restriction, for example, conciliation and mediation procedures, leading, in the event of deadlock, to arbitration machinery seen to be reliable by the parties concerned. It is essential that the workers be able to participate in determining and implementing the procedure, which should furthermore provide sufficient guarantees of impartiality and rapidity; arbitration awards should be binding on both parties and once issued, should be implemented rapidly and completely (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 164). The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide in its next report information on the compensatory guarantees available to the civil service corps employees whose right to strike under the Convention may be restricted.

(c) The Committee notes that a draft amendment of the Law of 18 December 1998 on the civil service prepared in 2003 which proposed abrogation of section 69(4) has not been approved by the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers. The Committee notes that for this reason, in the beginning of 2004, a working group was created with the task of drafting a new text of this Law and that the work is yet to be completed. Recalling that the autonomy of organizations can only be effectively guaranteed if their members have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom, the Committee hopes that in the very near future, a new text of the Law will be drafted taking into account its previous comments and approved. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed about developments in this regard and to provide it with the amended text as soon as it is adopted.

2. Trade union assets. The Committee takes note of the proceedings before the Social Revendication Commission and the administrative courts. The Committee expresses the hope that these issues will be resolved in the very near future and requests the Government to keep it informed of further developments in this regard.

3. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s statement that the Law of 26 July 2002 amending the Labour Code and some other laws has modified the Law on Trade Unions, in particular, through the addition of section 25 which permits persons performing work on the basis of a homework contract and officials of the police, frontier guards and prison guards to establish trade unions.