Lack of workers prompts relaxation of work permits

According to the draft bill, foreigners will be allowed to work in Poland for three months without a work permit. They will only need a declaration from the Polish employer saying that they are employed. Representatives from the Polish Employers' Confederation are in favor of the idea. "After hundreds of thousands Poles left the country, we have nothing left to do but to open our labor market to the nationals of other countries," stated Henryk Michalowicz from the Polish Employers' Confederation. "The construction sector alone lacks 200,000 employees." Opponents of the new regulations argue that they will allow the employment of Chinese workers in the Korean LG Philips LCD factories, which are some of the largest investments in Poland and are supposed to offer 12,000 jobs to Poles. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 23) E.B.