Will they pay for it?
"My firm hasn't paid me anything for four months now and my debt keeps growing," reveals one man who works in a media sector company. His personal account is still waiting for the missing several thousand zloty. The situation began almost two years ago with a seemingly innocent two-day delay of a money transfer.
"I wonder myself what is still keeping me here," continues the unfortunate employee. The most likely reason being managers' continual promises that the company's financial situation will improve. It must be said that the behavior of the offending companies isn't necessarily rooted in ill will. Nevertheless, an empty safe is no excuse. According to international and Polish laws, paying wages to employees is the first and foremost duty of every organization.
Although not representative of the whole country, data collected by the National Labor Inspectorate is alarming. The companies they monitored owed a total of zł.94 million to their employees in unpaid wages in 2003. This year the number of indecent employers, however, has fallen significantly. Yet company debts are rising, reaching zł.67 million in the first six months of 2004 alone and by December will probably top those from past years. Suprisingly, 91 percent of the monitored companies were from the private sector, which is often regarded as more reliable and efficient than the state-owned, disinvested giants.
"This is often a form of acquiring a free credit for the company," says the Solidarność Union's leader from Wielkopolskie voivoidship, Bogdan Klepa. Solidarność, who reported numerous examples of labor law abuse, including the avoidance of paying benefits in particular. Klepa admits this otherwise unacceptable practice may have a positive outcome in some cases. Tonsil, a large producer of acoustical equipment, was at the edge of bankruptcy when the management formed a settlement together with union members. Employees agreed not to receive wages until Tonsil generates profits. "Together with management our unionists in fact saved the company," says Klepa, not without some pride.
What members of national union organizations describe as a dramatic situation, however, employers' confederations see as a gradually diminishing anomaly. Vice president of the Business Center Club (BCC) Zbigniew Żurek defends the entrepreneurs: "The [rate of] decline in this practice is recently much faster than in previous years." He underlines that BCC never tolerated such actions and at the same time points out the shortage of wider information on the matter. The National Labor Inspectorate's monitoring, for example, covered at best several thousand firms and reached no more than 5 percent of all registered.
In the end, none of the parties involved would dare to deny that a problem exists. More importantly, Poland seems to be the sole such example in the EU. As Bogdan Klepa from Solidarność puts it: "When I speak about delays in wage payments to my international colleagues, they don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about." A Hungarian labor law specialist that he recently met could recall only one such case in Hungary during his practice. Union representatives have their explanation for this disproportion-fines in Hungary can reach HUF millions and be even 15 times higher than in Poland. Perhaps this country could learn a lesson or two from the Hungarians.
"I wonder myself what is still keeping me here," continues the unfortunate employee. The most likely reason being managers' continual promises that the company's financial situation will improve. It must be said that the behavior of the offending companies isn't necessarily rooted in ill will. Nevertheless, an empty safe is no excuse. According to international and Polish laws, paying wages to employees is the first and foremost duty of every organization.
Although not representative of the whole country, data collected by the National Labor Inspectorate is alarming. The companies they monitored owed a total of zł.94 million to their employees in unpaid wages in 2003. This year the number of indecent employers, however, has fallen significantly. Yet company debts are rising, reaching zł.67 million in the first six months of 2004 alone and by December will probably top those from past years. Suprisingly, 91 percent of the monitored companies were from the private sector, which is often regarded as more reliable and efficient than the state-owned, disinvested giants.
"This is often a form of acquiring a free credit for the company," says the Solidarność Union's leader from Wielkopolskie voivoidship, Bogdan Klepa. Solidarność, who reported numerous examples of labor law abuse, including the avoidance of paying benefits in particular. Klepa admits this otherwise unacceptable practice may have a positive outcome in some cases. Tonsil, a large producer of acoustical equipment, was at the edge of bankruptcy when the management formed a settlement together with union members. Employees agreed not to receive wages until Tonsil generates profits. "Together with management our unionists in fact saved the company," says Klepa, not without some pride.
What members of national union organizations describe as a dramatic situation, however, employers' confederations see as a gradually diminishing anomaly. Vice president of the Business Center Club (BCC) Zbigniew Żurek defends the entrepreneurs: "The [rate of] decline in this practice is recently much faster than in previous years." He underlines that BCC never tolerated such actions and at the same time points out the shortage of wider information on the matter. The National Labor Inspectorate's monitoring, for example, covered at best several thousand firms and reached no more than 5 percent of all registered.
In the end, none of the parties involved would dare to deny that a problem exists. More importantly, Poland seems to be the sole such example in the EU. As Bogdan Klepa from Solidarność puts it: "When I speak about delays in wage payments to my international colleagues, they don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about." A Hungarian labor law specialist that he recently met could recall only one such case in Hungary during his practice. Union representatives have their explanation for this disproportion-fines in Hungary can reach HUF millions and be even 15 times higher than in Poland. Perhaps this country could learn a lesson or two from the Hungarians.
