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On paper, strikes are legal, but in practice, completing the entire procedure is almost impossible. We’re gathering analyses, explanations, and workers’ stories.
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On paper, strikes are legal, but in practice, completing the entire procedure is almost impossible. We’re gathering analyses, explanations, and workers’ stories.
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23.10.2026 / English
It’s time to stop punishing people for spontaneous strikes in Poland. A legal act from the martial law period makes Poland a hotspot for cheap work force in the EU. We publish a full version of an interview with Bartosz Kurzyca from Komisja Krajowa Inicjatywy Pracowniczej (National Committee of Workers Initiative) and Katarzyna Kiwerska from […]
20.10.2026 / English
The ICJ ruling coincided with the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Act on the Resolution of Collective Disputes of May 23, 1991—the most restrictive legislation governing strikes in the entire European Union, with its origins in the era of martial law in the Polish People’s Republic. The text was originally published on May […]
20.10.2026 / English
Martial law was introduced in Poland on December 13 1981, as a response to a wave of strikes that was happening in the country and the suspicion of foreign (that is, mostly American) intervention into the pro-democratic movements. The biggest strikes happened in August of 1980, and as a result of them an all-Poland trade […]
20.10.2026 / English
Law that exists only on paper The right to strike is a fundamental democratic right and the only real tool workers have to defend themselves against attacks from governments and big business. However, as the experience of trade unions shows, in Poland the right to strike exists only on paper. We are still subject to […]
18.10.2026 / English
Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to you with an urgent request for immediate amendments to the Act on the Resolution of Collective Disputes. We demand the abolition of the requirement for a strike ballot with a minimum turnout of 50 percent, and that unions be granted the right to an open-ended strike without first […]