The right to unionise in Poland after the amendment of the law on trade unions

Abstract

The change to the scope of the right to associate in trade unions is the most fundamental change that has taken place in Polish collective labour law in recent years. This article discusses the transformation of the scope of the right to unionise that was introduced by the amendment of the Trade Unions Act of 5 July 2018. For the sake of completeness, the genesis of the amendment will be briefly presented, in particular, the theses of the Constitutional Tribunal judgment of 2 June 2015 (K 1/13), which gave rise to this amendment and set its direction. I will then present the regulations currently in force in Polish law regarding the scope of unionising and will attempt to assess the effects of the changes introduced by the legislator in this respect.