According to data collected by “Rzeczpospolita”, the largest costs of maintaining trade unions are borne by Polska Grupa Górnicza. In a company employing approx. 35 thousand On average, 240 employees are delegated to trade union work, and the cost of their remuneration reaches up to PLN 48 million per year. In the case of JSW, the costs of operating unions in 2025 amounted to approximately PLN 34.3 million. There are over 80 trade union organizations operating in this company, and statistically, each employee belongs on average to almost two trade unions at the same time – indicates “Rz”.
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Fragmentation of trade unions. “There is a need to amend the law here”
The biggest problem, however, is not the remuneration of trade unionists, but the high fragmentation of the organization, which leads to chaos and unclear situations, e.g. regarding the delegation of employees to work in unions. As the chairman of “August 80”, Bogusław Ziętek, told “Rzeczpospolita”, “in our opinion, delegation fraud is taking place and funds from the social fund are being extorted in this way.” The head of the union emphasizes that the amendment to the Trade Union Act should re-regulate, among others, issues related to the representation of trade unions and their number.
See also: Detectives, wiretapping and other tricks. Companies in Poland are fighting trade unions in which Poles do not believe anyway.
Jerzy Markowski, former deputy minister of economy responsible for mining, has the same opinion. — This situation was allowed to happen several years ago. Those in power in the companies assumed that fragmenting the unions would make them weaker. These unions were consolidated at the central level anyway. […] There is a need to amend the Trade Union Act to sort this out. – says “Rzeczpospolita”.
