The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy has prepared an amendment to the PIP Act, which is to reduce employment in the so-called junk contracts. Inspectors are to gain the right to convert a civil law contract into an employment contract by administrative decision. Such a decision should specify the type of contract, type of work, working hours and the amount of remuneration. This decision is to be immediately enforceable, although it may be appealed to court.
The agricultural industry is protesting against such broad powers of the National Labor Inspectorate – including the National Chamber of Poultry, the Polish Meat Association, as well as the All-Poland Agreement of Trade Unions of Farmers and Agricultural Organizations and the Independent Farmers' Trade Union “Solidarity”.
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“Solidarity” writes to the president
As Business Insider Polska found out, the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union of Individual Farmers “Solidarity” sent an appeal to President Karol Nawrocki regarding the PIP reform. The union calls for the initiation of dialogue and re-analysis of the regulations prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy. It also calls for actions to limit the negative effects of changes in law on Polish agriculture.
Trade unionists warn that expanding the competences of PIP combined with the entry into force of the agreement with the MERCOSUR countries “is a recipe for a disaster for Polish agriculture in the coming years.” In the association's opinion, the new regulations may lead to questioning thousands of existing contracts that today constitute the basis for employment in agriculture. According to farmers, the result of such actions would be a radical increase in production costs.
Trade unionists emphasize that cooperation between farmers and employees is today largely based on civil law contracts. Such solutions are also commonly used in the processing sectors, mainly due to the seasonal nature of work.
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OPZZ writes to the government
The National Agreement of Trade Unions of Farmers and Agricultural Organizations sent a letter in a similar tone to the ministers: Stefan Krajewski, Maciej Berek, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The association emphasizes that meat producers and fruit growers massively benefit from, among others, from the services of outsourcing companies. According to the unions PIP decisions may, in extreme cases, lead to the questioning of several hundred thousand contracts. As a consequence, this could significantly increase the costs of running farms and destabilize the entire sector.
Meat producers convince the Minister of Finance about the negative effects of the reform
The National Chamber of Poultry and the Polish Meat Association want to convince the Minister of Agriculture, Stefan Krajewski, and the Minister of Finance, Andrzej Domański, about the harmfulness of the new regulations.
The Ministry of Finance estimates that transformation approx. 10 percent from 160 thousand B2B contracts into employment contracts could bring the budget approximately PLN 200 million annually. “Losses resulting from the decline in exports, investments and tax revenues of the meat industry will be many times higher. Therefore, it is difficult to consider this project justified“- says KRD.
ZPM notes that the Ministry of Finance's plans regarding the number of inspections do not coincide with PIP's declarations. The Chief Labor Inspector announces that next year the National Labor Inspectorate will carry out 200 targeted inspections.
“We are afraid that employment control mechanisms may be used to temporarily increase budget revenues, and the powers of the National Labor Inspectorate will be abused,” writes Dariusz Goszczyński, president of the National Chamber of Poultry.
Witold Choiński, president of ZPM, finally appeals for protection of Polish agriculture and opposition to the adoption of the proposed regulations in their current form.
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Other employers are also protesting
Last week, a meeting on the PIP reform project with social partners was held at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. From the government side, it was attended by Maciej Berek, minister for supervision over the implementation of government policy, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, minister of labor, Sebastian Gajewski, deputy minister of labor, Joanna Knapińska, president of the Government Legislation Center, Marcin Stanecki, Chief Labor Inspector, representatives of representative employers' organizations and trade unions.
Employers appealed for the rigor of immediate enforceability of the inspector's decisions. They demanded that the law should not apply retroactively. If inspectors must have the right to transform contracts due to the provisions of the KPO, the effects of their decisions should apply from the moment the full appeal process is completed.
The Ministry of Labor defended the reform in its proposed form, which is only intended to effectively combat the apparent use of civil law contracts.. Representatives of trade unions also supported its implementation. RCL reminded us of the doubts it raised during the consultations, which we described here.
According to information from Business Insider Polska, no specific decisions were made at the meeting. The government declared the establishment of an inter-ministerial team that will work intensively on changes to the project.
