We publish below the letter we received last weekend from trade union members at the Bolesławiec Social Care Home:
The Workplace Organisation no. 01-047 of OPZZ “Konfederacja Pracy” at the Social Care Home in Bolesławiec entered into a collective dispute with its employer, the Social Care Home in Bolesławiec, represented by Director Bogusław Szeffs, on 10 March 2015.
The negotiations did not make it possible to obtain the employer’s position on the demands covered by the collective dispute. During the negotiations conducted as part of the ongoing collective dispute, the employer and the negotiating team deliberately prolonged the negotiations, refused to disclose information necessary for conducting them, and conducted the negotiations in a manner that showed a lack of interest in reaching an agreement. The employer adopted a passive stance and showed no willingness to reach an agreement and resolve the collective dispute as quickly as possible. The trade union side made concessions regarding pay rises, which ultimately did not change the employer’s position and did not make it possible to reach any agreement. The planned 3% increase in remuneration, amounting to PLN 31,416.00 in 2015 for employees of the Social Care Home in Bolesławiec, approved by Resolution No. 11/29/2014 of the Bolesławiec City Council of 17 December 2014 on the city’s budget for 2015, had not been implemented by 10 March 2015, when the Workplace Trade Union Organisation entered into a collective dispute with the employer. The trade union side indicated that the negotiations scheduled for 19 June 2015 would be the final meeting at the negotiation stage of this collective dispute. On 19 June 2015, a meeting of the parties took place:
the Workplace Organisation of OPZZ “Konfederacja Pracy”, represented by its Board—Chairman Zbigniew Zając and Vice-Chairwoman Agnieszka Kata—and the Social Care Home in Bolesławiec, represented by Director Bogusław Szeffs and the negotiating teams. The trade union side referred to the employer’s correspondence delivered on 19 June 2015, two hours before the meeting, and did not agree to the employer’s position presented in it. The trade union side pointed out that by 18 June 2015 the employer had not presented its position on all the demands covered by the collective dispute, as had been indicated in the minutes of the negotiating teams’ arrangements of 3 June 2015. Therefore, as announced, the trade union side requested that a protocol of disagreements ending the negotiation stage of the ongoing collective dispute be drawn up. Until the negotiations ended, the employer showed no initiative in developing a consensus and presented no alternative proposal regarding the demands put forward by the Workplace Trade Union Organisation. Even when the employer’s side proposed a solution, it withdrew it at the next meeting. On 19 June 2015, the trade union side began drawing up the protocol of disagreements, presenting in it the position of the Workplace Organisation of OPZZ “Konfederacja Pracy” at the Social Care Home in Bolesławiec. The employer undertook to present its position on the protocol of disagreements by 2 July 2015. The parties to the dispute jointly agreed that 2 July 2015 would be the deadline for finalising the protocol of disagreements from the negotiations. At the end of the meeting, the employer refused to initial the protocol of disagreements and refused to accept its contents, leaving the meeting together with its team.The detailed demands concerning the collective dispute relate to the efficient operation of the Social Care Home in Bolesławiec and improving the working conditions of employees employed at the Social Care Home. All the demands had repeatedly appeared in correspondence between the Workplace Trade Union Organisation and the employer since the organisation was established, on 16 April 2014.
We contacted the facility’s director, Bogusław Szeffs. During a telephone conversation with “ii”, the director asked us to send the questions by email. On 24 June, we received the following response:
At present, I cannot provide [czyli pytania dziennikarza „ii” – przyp. red.] an answer to them because on 22 April 2015 I undertook to refrain from commenting on the course of the collective dispute. I will be able to provide more information after 2 July 2015, once the negotiations have ended and the negotiating teams have drawn up the protocol of disagreements.
Yours sincerely
Bogusław Szeffs – Director of the Bolesławiec Social Care Home
We will return to this subject.