Social Dialogue Council

The institution of tripartite dialogue in Poland, functioning at the central level. It provides a forum for cooperation between the employee side, the employer side and the government side. It was established by the Act of 24 July 2015 on the Social Dialogue Council and other institutions of social dialogue. The Council replaced the Trilateral Commission for Social and Economic Affairs, which had been in operation since 1994.

Objectives of the Social Dialogue Council:

Element graficzny
  • ensuring conditions for social and economic development and increasing the competitiveness of the Polish economy and social cohesion,
  • implementation of the principle of social participation and solidarity in employment relations,
  • action to improve the quality of formulation and implementation of socio-economic policies and strategies, as well as to build a social consensus around them by conducting a transparent, substantive and regular dialogue between organisations of employees and employers and the governmental side,
  • supporting the conduct of social dialogue at all levels of local government units

Competences

The Social Dialogue Council has the right to:

  • prepare drafts of legal acts that are obligatorily considered by the Council of Ministers (so-called quasi-legislative initiative),
  • request the competent minister to issue or amend a legal act,
  • request the Council of Ministers to hold a public hearing on a draft normative act,
  • address enquiries to the competent ministers, who must reply within 30 days,
  • request the Supreme Court to resolve a legal issue if discrepancies in the interpretation of the law have emerged in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court or common courts,
  • adopt a resolution on a request made by the Chairperson of the Council to the Sejm and Senate to enable the submission to the Sejm or Senate of information on matters of significant importance to the Council's jurisdiction,
  • adopt a resolution on a request made by the Chairman of the Council to the minister competent for public finance to issue a general interpretation in the event of non-uniform application of the provisions of tax law.

The tasks of the Social Dialogue Council include:

  • giving an opinion on draft legal acts
  • issuing opinions on preliminary forecasts of macroeconomic values constituting the basis for works on the draft budget act and submitting proposals on the increase of remuneration in the national economy in the following year, including in the state budget sphere, as well as on the increase of the minimum remuneration and pensions from the Social Insurance Fund
  • issuing opinions on the assumptions of the draft state budget and the draft budget act
  • presenting positions on issues submitted by the Council of Ministers, its members and other state bodies
  • considering motions submitted to Provincial Social Dialogue Councils concerning matters covered by the scope of competence of the Social Dialogue Council

Composition

The members of the Social Dialogue Council are representatives of: the government, representative trade union organisations and representative employer organisationsReprezentatywne organizacje pracodawców:

  • Representative employer organisations:
  • Pracodawcy RP (Employers of Poland)
  • Konfederacja Lewiatan (Confederation Lewiatan)
  • Związek Rzemiosła Polskiego (Polish Craft Association)
  • Związek Pracodawców Business Centre Club (Union of Employers Business Centre Club)
  • Związek Przedsiębiorców i Pracodawców (Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers)
  • Federacja Przedsiębiorców Polskich (Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs)


Representative trade union organisations:

  • NSZZ "Solidarność"
  • OPZZ (All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions)
  • Forum Związków Zawodowych (Trade Unions Forum)

Members of the Social Dialogue Council on behalf of Employers of Poland are:

  • Rafał Dutkiewicz - Vice-Chairman of the Social Dialogue Council
  • Jacek Cieplak
  • Joanna Makowiecka-Gatza
  • Iwona Sroka

Secretary of the Presidium of the Social Dialogue Council on behalf of the Employers of Poland:

Barbara Owsiak

Voivodship Social Dialogue Councils

The Voivodship Social Dialogue Councils are regional social dialogue institutions in Poland which replaced the former Voivodship Commissions for Social Dialogue (WKDS). Creating and ensuring the functioning of WRDS is a task of government administration, delegated to the marshal of a voivodship and financed by a purpose subsidy. The Marshall of the voivodeship decides on the establishment of WRDS at the joint motion of at least one employer organisation and at least one employee organisation. 

Employers of Poland are represented in all 16 Voivodship Social Dialogue Councils.