Collective bargaining agreements: new sanctions, old rules

Issues previously regulated by the Labour Code are now covered by the Act on Collective Bargaining Agreements. Our experts, Aleksandra Woźniak, legal advisor, and Jędrzej Zieliński, attorney-at-law, analyse what this means.

This concerns the procedure for negotiating collective labour agreements, which has changed its place in the legal act. However, the obligations of employers have not changed. At the request of a trade union organisation, they must still enter into negotiations in order to:

• conclude an agreement for persons performing gainful employment not previously covered by it,
• amend the agreement due to a significant change in the employer’s economic or financial situation or a deterioration in the financial situation of persons performing gainful employment,
• extend the term of the agreement or conclude a new agreement, if the request was made no earlier than two months before the expiry of the period for which the agreement was concluded or after the date of its termination.

This obligation must not be disregarded under any circumstances, as under the new regulations, refusal to enter into negotiations to conclude or amend a collective labour agreement, extend its validity or conclude a new collective labour agreement is a criminal offence.