The Role of Trade Unions in Poland

Abstract

In the traditional view of American trade union leaders, a labor union without bargaining power over the wages of its members is analogous to a `1984 nonperson. At best, such an organization of workers would be a mockery; at worst, it could not exist for very long and hope to retain the loyalty of its membership. It is, therefore, rather difficult for those whose knowledge of the labor movement has been limited to unions operating in a free enterprise system to accept the legitimacy of socialist trade unions in a controlled economy. And yet, in at least one Communist nation-Poland-a powerful and influential labor structure offers job protection, administers a vast program of worker housing, provides for cultural and recreational needs, cooperates with state medical programs, and even bargains to a limited extent on certain types of monetary issues. Granting that the CRZZ (the Polish counterpart of our AFL-CIO) is an instrument of state planning and recognizing that strikes are anathema to Communist thinking, it would be a mistake for the industrial relations scholar to ignore the functions, structure, and philosophy of a labor movement which enrolls about 95 percent of the working people in Poland, or about 10.5 million members in a population of 33 million. Structurally, a chart illustrating the Polish labor union system would closely resemble Figure i.