This article examines the stances of Polish trade unions on EU enlargement, intra-EU labour mobility and EU service market liberalization. It shows that, despite the liberal rhetoric embraced by mainstream media and successive Polish governments, the country’s labour organizations did not lend their support to the logic of low-cost competitiveness. The article accounts for this stance by referring to the insider-outsider theorem. It argues that whereas transnationally mobile workers and self-employed individuals (the ‘outsiders’) could make use of short-term cost advantages, the domestic workforce (the ‘insiders’) benefited from the gradual improvement of employment conditions in Poland and their convergence with western standards. The desire to cater to the interests of the insiders made the unions reject social dumping and defend the west European social ‘archetype’ to which their countrymen aspired.
BernaciakM (2010) Cross-border competition and trade union responses in the enlarged EU: Evidence from the automotive industry in Germany and Poland. European Journal of Industrial Relations16(2): 119–135.
5.
BernaciakM (2015) Introduction: Social Dumping in the EU Integration Process. In: BernaciakM (ed.) Market Expansion and Social Dumping in Europe. London and New York: Routledge, pp: 1–22.
6.
BernaciakM (in press) Coming full circle? Contestation, social dialogue and trade union politics in Poland. In: LehndorffSSchultenTDribbuschHTrade Unions under the Conditions of the European Crisis. Brussels: ETUI.
7.
BohleD (2008) Race to the Bottom? Comparative Institutional Advantages? Competition of Capitalisms in the Enlarged EU. Paper presented at the Political Economy Research Group seminar, Central European University, Budapest, 26 March 2008.
8.
BohleDHuszD (2003) Whose Europe is it? Interest Group Action in Accession Negotiations: The Cases of Competition Policy and Labor Migration. Politique Européenne15(4): 85–112.
9.
BoschGZühlke-RobinetK (2000) Der Bauarbeitsmarkt. Soziologie und Ökonomie einer Branche. Frankfurt am Main: Campus.
10.
CliftBHowarthW (2010) France, Managed Globalisation, Social Europe and EU Enlargement: Rising Ambivalence on Market Integration in the EU-27. In: PSA Conference Proceedings 2010. Available at: http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2010/157_447.pdf.
11.
CremersJ (2011) In search of cheap labour in Europe. Working and living conditions of posted workers. Brussels: CLR Studies6.
12.
CremersJDølvikJEBoschG (2007) Posting of workers in the single market: attempts to prevent social dumping and regime competition in the EU. Industrial Relations Journal38(6): 524–541.
13.
CrowleySOstD (eds) (2001) Workers and Workers’ States. Lanham, Boulder, New York and Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
14.
DegryseCTillyP (2013) 1973–2013: 40 Years of History of the European Trade Union Confederation. Brussels: ETUI.
15.
DGB and Solidarność (1999) The Declaration of DGB and Solidarity on the EU Eastern Enlargement.
16.
DuszczykMPoprzęckiD (2000) Rozszerzenie Unii Europejskiej w opinii związków zawodowych oraz organizacji pracodawców. Warsaw: Instytut Spraw Publicznych.
FitzgeraldIHardyJ (2010a) ‘Thinking Outside the Box?’ Trade Union Organizing Strategies and Polish Migrant Workers in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Industrial Relations48(1): 131–150.
20.
FitzgeraldIHardyJ (2010b) Negotiating ‘solidarity’ and internationalism: the response of Polish Trade Unions to migration. Industrial Relations Journal41(4): 367–381.
21.
FrankRH (2011) The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition and the Common Good. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
22.
GardawskiJ (2001) Związki zawodowe na rozdrożu. Warsaw: Instytut Spraw Publicznych.
IankovaE (2000) Multi-level Bargaining during Bulgaria’s Return to Capitalism. Industrial and Labor Relations Review54(1): 115–137.
27.
IG BAU (2000) Position der Industriegewerkschaft Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt zur EU-Ostwereiterung.
28.
IG BAU (2005) Nein zur Bolkenstein- Richtlinie! In: LauxE-L (2005) Europa aktuell. Arbeitsbedingungen, Tarifverträge und soziale Beziehungen im Baugewerbe. Frankfurt am Main: Bundesvorstand IG BAU.
29.
KringsT (2009) A Race to the Bottom? Trade Unions, EU Enlargement and the Free Movement of Labour. European Journal of Industrial Relations15(1): 49–69.
30.
KrzywdzinskiM (2010) Organizing employees in Central Eastern Europe: The approach of Solidarność. European Journal of Industrial Relations16(3): 277–292.
31.
KunzJ (2002) Labour Mobility and EU Enlargement: a Review of Current Trends and Debates. ETUI DWP 2002.02.01. Brussels: ETUI.
32.
LindbeckASnowerDJ (2001) Insiders versus Outsiders. Journal of Economic Perspectives15(1): 165–188.
33.
LindstromN (2010) Service Liberalization in the Enlarged EU: A Race to the Bottom or the Emergence of Transnational Political Conflict?Journal of Common Market Studies48(5): 1307–1327.
34.
LindvallJRuedaD (2013) The Insider-Outsider Dilemma. British Journal of Political Science44(2): 1–16.
35.
MarginsonP (2006) Between Europeanization and Regime Competition: Labour Market Regulation Following EU Enlargement. Warwick Papers in Industrial Relations 79. Coventry: University of Warwick.
36.
MeardiG (2002) The Trojan Horse for the Americanization of Europe? Polish Industrial Relations towards the EU. European Journal of Industrial Relations8(1): 77–99.
37.
MeardiG (2004) Short Circuits in Multinational Companies: The Extension of European Works Councils to Poland. European Journal of Industrial Relations10(2): 161–178.
38.
OPZZ (2000) Stanowisko Nadzwyczajnego Kongresu OPZZ w sprawie integracji europejskiej. Kronika Związkowa63(258)/2000.
39.
OPZZ (2001) Stanowisko Rady OPZZ w sprawie przepływu siły roboczej w kontekście integracji Polski z Unią Europejską. Kronika Związkowa23(304)/2001.
OPZZ (2004) Przemówienie Przewodniczącego OPZZ Jana Guza otwierające 1-majową demonstrację. Kronika Związkowa39(569)/2004.
42.
OPZZ (2006a) Związkowcy w Strasbourgu za Europą socjalną. Kronika Związkowa24/2006.
43.
OPZZ (2006b) Oświadczenie OPZZ w sprawie swobody przepływu pracowników w Unii Europejskiej i imigracji zarobkowej. Projekt.
44.
OstD (2000) Illusory Corporatism in Eastern Europe: Neoliberal Tripartism and Postcommunist Class Identities. Politics & Society28(4): 503–530.
45.
OstD (2002) The Weakness of Strong Social Movements: Models of Unionism in the East European Context. European Journal of Industrial Relations8(1): 33–51.
46.
OstD (2005) The Defeat of Solidarity. Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
47.
PollertA (1999) Trade Unionism in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe. European Journal of Industrial Relations5(2): 209–234.
48.
RogowskiR (1989) Commerce and Coalitions. How Trade Affects Domestic Political Alignments. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
49.
RuedaD (2007) Social Democracy Inside Out. Partisanship and Labour Market Policy in Industrialized Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
50.
SeideneckP (1993) Vertiefung oder Erweiterung? Zu aktuellen Problemen der Europäischen Gewerkschaftspolitik. Gewerkschaftliche Monatshefte9: 543–552.
51.
Sepsi Sz (2014) Presentation at the workshop ‘Transnational workers in Germany and the Netherlands’, Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Düsseldorf, 2 April 2014.
Solidarność and Budowlani (2006) Stanowisko Związku Zawodowego ‘Budowlani’ i Sekretariatu Budownictwa i Przemysłu Drzewnego NSZZ ‘Solidarność’ w sprawie swobody przepływu siły roboczej w budownictwie i swobody świadczenia usług w tym sektorze.
59.
Solidarność and SIPTU (2006) Umowa między SPITU, Irlandia, a NSZZ Solidarność, Polska.
60.
Solidarność and ver.di (2004) Porozumienie w sprawie ochrony prawnej.
61.
Solidarność, Budowlani and IG BAU (1999) Umowa o współpracy.
62.
StolperWFSamuelsonPA (1941) Protection and Real Wages. Review of Economic Studies9(1): 58–73.
63.
StreeckW (1997) Beneficial Constraints: on the Economic Limits of Rational Voluntarism. In: BoyerRHollingsworthJR (eds) Contemporary Capitalism: The Embeddedness of Institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp: 197–221.
64.
StreeckW (1998) La logique des stratégies politiques de class dans l’espace transnational. In: NadelHLindleyR (eds) Les relations sociales en Europe: economie et institutions. Paris: L’Harmattan, pp. 139–150.
65.
Trybuna (2006) Polacy przeciwko Polakom?17 February 2006.
66.
Vaughan-WhiteheadD (2003) EU Enlargement versus Social Europe? The Uncertain Future of the European Social Model. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
67.
VickerstaffSAThirkellJEM (2000) Instrumental Rationality and European Integration: Transfer of Avoidance of Industrial Relations Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe?European Journal of Industrial Relations6(2): 237–251.
