On Tuesday, the left MPs submitted a draft act on the minimum wage for work to the Sejm. It was signed by, among others: Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, family and labor minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitization and Marcin Kulasek, Minister of Science and Higher Education. Where does the project of Left MPs come from, since advanced work in the Ministry of Labor's Ministry is already underway?
– We want to show that this is not our fault, that work in the government on a minimum wage project is going so slowly. Poland has its own obligations, the minister of labor announced that it will fill them out, and we want to show that it cares for their implementation – the leftist's politician, similar to the government, tells us. Except that the parliamentary project is very different from the government, as we write about.
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The left submits the bill on minimum remuneration for work
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Sejm
The government has been working on a new minimum salary for over a year
The point is that Poland until November 2024 should implement the EU directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union. The project in this matter was sent to consultation at the end of August 2024. Then the work was frozen, because in the government there is a dispute between ministries mainly about the costs of implementing the new principles, as well as the hope that the problem will be solved by the Court of Justice of the European Union. In August this year However, the government resumed work on a project that has already been sent to the permanent committee of the Council of Ministers.
See also: The government wants to appoint an employee ombudsman. It would deal with it
Three matters that caused a conflict
Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, Minister of Labor and Social Policy in a letter to Mariusz Skowroński, secretary of the permanent committee of the Council of Ministers asks for the resolution of six disputes. The most emotions, which we wrote about in Business Insider Polska in spring 2025, cause three things:
- Changing the minimum wage definition and securing funds for the implementation of this change. According to the project, the minimum will not include add -ons, including functional from 2027, as well as bonuses and awards from 2028. This means the need to increase funds to remuneration, both by the private and public sectors, which emphasizes the Ministry of Finance and other ministries.
- Creating a new minimum wage team at the Council of Ministerswhich is to develop a proposal for a minimum wage increase every year. The Ministry of Finance believes that such a team already operates in the Social Dialogue Council.
- Application 55 percent forecasted average salary in the national economy as an indicative reference value for calculating the minimum wage – the Ministry of Finance postulates 50 percent.
The left submits its project
With a budget problem, reaching an agreement in the government on the minimum wage may take a long time. As Łukasz Kozłowski, the chief economist of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, notes, the fate of the directive is also uncertain due to the ongoing dispute before the CJEU. Therefore, the left submitted to the Sejm as A parliamentary project on the minimum wage, which, however, differs from the ministerial.
Firstly Add -ons would not be included in the minimum from 2027, Which will increase the costs of business and administration faster. Secondly, he does not mention anything about the new team at the Council of Ministers, which in turn will reduce the costs of the new law.
Thirdly Increases the upper limit of penalties for breaking employee regulations up to 60 thousand. zloty. In the ministerial project it is 10,000 PLN lower.
So, as you can see, the left-wing project, which Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk also signed, is still going than the one prepared in the ministry he managed.
– The main purpose of the draft Left Act is to redefine the minimum wage in such a way that it is tantamount to the basic wage – that is, that all other remuneration components should be excluded from the minimum remuneration for work – admits Łukasz Kozłowski.
The effects of the changes will affect the private sector
And he points out that The proposed changes are primarily a reaction to the postulates of trade unions operating in the public sectorwho complain that experienced employees who have the right to numerous salary allowances earn similar or identical amounts as people who are just starting their work. – The reason for this is not bad regulations regarding the minimum wage, but the underground informed of the state budgetary sphere for years and lower valorisation of wages in the budgets compared to the increase in the minimum wage. However, the effects of changes will affect not only public administration, but also a private sector. Many companies will have to change their remuneration policy to economically adapt to the new regulations. The share of the basic salary element will increase, and the share of motivational or related to various types of additives will decrease. It will also be a stimulus for more frequent use of civil law contracts – adds Łukasz Kozłowski.
In his opinion, however, the project goes beyond the goal of the minimum wage, which is to determine the lowest level of earnings of working people for social reasons.
It is worth recalling that the left has done similarly with regulations that will allow for the seniority to include employment time on an order or conducting business activity. Although the project in this matter was processed in the government, it submitted its deputy. The act in this case has already been adopted, and now the Senate deals with it.
