THE EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF A WORKPLACE TRADE UNION AND THOSE ABOVE AFTER THE AMENDMENTS

The aim of the contemplation is the issue of trade union activists’ employment protection. Discussing article 32 of the Trade Unions Act, the author focuses on changes introduced in the Act from 5th July 2018. In the article, the author points out the meaning of an employed person, the date by which the trade union must adapt its approach towards matters such as a notice of termination, dissolution of employment or one party changes to provision of employment of trade union’s activists. In the study, the author discusses the legal position of the board members of a trade union at the workplace level an above mentioned in the Act of 2003 about so-called group redundancies. The author indicates the differences between the legal protection of an employed person and a union activist that is employed on other category of employment.

“We Go on Our Own Boats!”: Korean Migrants and the Politics of Transportation Infrastructure in the Japanese Empire

This paper examines transportation infrastructure in the Japanese empire and its role in positioning Korean migrants in the labor markets of the metropole. To do so, it focuses on the Pusan–Shimonoseki ferry which, between 1905 and 1945, transferred over 30 million people between Japan and Korea. During this time, the ships that comprised this ferry line helped articulate new borders between the metropole and its annexed colony. In this capacity, the vessels helped constitute and control the flow of a new class of colonial migrants as they entered the labor markets of Japan. Historically, transportation networks have been looked on as modes of conveyance or as symbols of political amalgamation. Colonial era descriptions of the Pusan-Shimonoseki ferry commonly maintained this view. However, rather than stress the spatial integration brought by the line, this paper highlights its function as a source of delineation. The ferries connecting Japan to its closest colony not only served as a conduit for Korean workers, but also introduced forms of constraint and contingency that shaped their ability to sell their labor in Japan. Transportation thus became an issue of political contestation and resistance. Korean workers and union activists employed an array of tactics to undermine the borders imposed through the regulation of transportation. Doing so was part of an attempt to assert greater control over the migrant's position in regional markets and mitigate the unevenness of the colonial system.

Membership Eligibility in a Europe of Parliamentary Democracies, 1962–1969

This chapter uses extensive archival evidence to demonstrate how the membership norm adopted by the community in early 1962—that only parliamentary democracies are eligible for membership—shaped European Economic Community decisions on Spain, Turkey, and Greece in the 1960s. Despite its prior openness to Madrid, the EEC rejected Spain’s quest for association in 1962 after trade union activists and members of the European parliament highlighted the gap between the new norm and the repressiveness of the Spanish regime. Despite deep concerns about the under-developed state of the Turkish economy, the EEC approved an association agreement in 1963 that recognized Turkey’s membership eligibility after the country re-established its democratic institutions. And despite the advanced state of the association agreement with Greece, the EEC froze further developments following that country’s military coup in 1967 and linked further progress to a restoration of democracy in Athens.

Union Activism and the Baseball Hall of Fame Voting Process: Labor-Management Conflict and Media Bias

Media bias is well documented in the industrial relations domain. This paper extends this research by exploring whether union participation among former professional baseball players affects the likelihood of moving through two stages of the selection process for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF), a selection process controlled by sports media. At the HOF ballot inclusion stage, union activism increased position players’ and pitchers’ likelihoods of inclusion, regardless of time period. Conversely, at the HOF voting stage, position players who were union representatives during labor-management conflict (i.e., strikes and lockouts) received significantly less votes than non-activists, while position players who were representatives during labor-management cooperation received significantly more votes. Union activism did not affect pitchers at this stage. We conclude that union activists can be subject to negative media bias during labor-management conflict that, in turn, negatively affects post-employment outcomes.

Wojsko jako internowanie

The Army as Internment: Forms of the Repression During the Martial Law in the Years 1982-1983 Against Activists of the Anticommunist Opposition Placed in Military Special Camps (Part I) The work focuses its issues on one of the repression forms used in the martial law introduced on 13th December 1981 to pacify the society which tried to change the fossilised communist system through activity in the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity”. It was not a new solution in the Polish People’s Republic – just after the Second World War the communist authority drafted into “alternative military service” opponents of sovietisation of the country, directing them to forced labour in mines. Fearing a social rebellion before the second anniversary of the independent trade union registration, communist authorities interned in military special camps, functioning in Poland from 5 November 1982 to 3 February 1983, 1450 trade union activists and members of the political parties unaccepted by communists. 264 younger colleagues of these people were drafted into the basic military service lasting two years in three units intended for this purpose.

THE STATUTE OF TRADE UNIONS AS A LIMIT OF ABUSES AGAINST EMPLOYERS – SELECTED ISSUES

The article attempts to answer the question whether the economic freedom of the employer is not blindly limited by the model of trade unions, which do not conform to the modern economic reality, which, in the light of the principle of self-governance, often abuse their dominant position in the labor market. The author points to selected problems in the self-government of trade unions at the level of non-employment, pointing to the importance of the trade union statute, which determines the scope of protection of trade union activists in the sphere of individual labor law. The author puts forward the thesis that the basis for the balance of social partners is the observance of internal regulations by trade unions.

Transnational Labour Solidarity as Transformative Practice: Reframing the Role of Labour Transnationalism

In the 1980s and 1990s, a significant number of rank-and-file trade union activists in Canada became actively engaged in various forms of international labour solidarity. This activity, the end of the Cold War and the increasing impacts of neo-liberal globalisation combined to spark hopes for greatly expanding practices of labour transnationalism. This vision of transnationalising trade union organisation has not materialised and, in fact, inside Canadian unions there has been declining faith in the possibilities of building transnational solidarity. Starting with an analysis of the dominant dichotomies underlying the literature on labour transnationalism, I suggest that stepping outside these dichotomies can provide a different way of assessing the role of transnational labour solidarity within broader struggles for workers’ justice. In this article, drawing upon the case of transnational political solidarities built by workers inside Canadian unions in the 1980s and 1990s, I argue that assessing transnational practices with a longer view to class formation and the goals of workers’ emancipation can help to expand conceptions of what constitutes successful transnational practice. Such a reassessment of the role of labour transnationalism is particularly timely in the current context of right-wing populism.

Digital Mobilization: New Mechanisms and Opportunities for Political Governance

The article examines the ways and methods of digital mobilization of citizens for protest marches in the cities of the Russian Federation (for example, the city of Pskov) on January 23 and 31, 2021. The research issue is the need to understand the system of digital mobilization — from campaigning to the transition to collective, public action.As part of the study, an expert interview was conducted among the organizers of rallies, the regional establishment, party workers, and trade union activists. The monitoring of protest groups in social networks (VKontakte, Telegram, Instagram) was also carried out for the tonality of information and the mechanisms for mobilizing citizens presented. They also used the method of observing the process of transition from digital mobilization to collective action and directly following the protest processions themselves.During the analysis, the author concludes that social media is a key channel of communication and consolidation of protest activity, with the social networks VKontakte and Telegram playing the main role in Russian political practice. In this connection, conclusions are drawn about the possibility of political management of protests using an information strategy aimed at stopping negative information labels and media occasions on VKontakte and Telegram, as well as developing an alternative protest agenda.

“Did Emmett Till Die in Vain? Organized Labor Says No!”: The United Packinghouse Workers and Civil Rights Unionism in the Mid-1950s

Emmett Till's mangled face is seared into our collective memory, a tragic epitome of the brutal violence that upheld white supremacy in the Jim Crow South. But Till's murder was more than just a tragedy: it also inspired an outpouring of protest, in which labor unions played a prominent role. The United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) campaigned energetically, from the stockyards of Chicago to the sugar refineries of Louisiana. The UPWA organized the first mass meeting addressed by Till's mother, Mamie Bradley; packinghouse workers petitioned, marched, and rallied to demand justice; and an interracial group of union activists traveled to Mississippi to observe the trial of Till's killers firsthand, flouting segregation inside and outside the courtroom. Analysis of antiracist unions like the UPWA can help rectify a weakness in the “whiteness” literature by illuminating the contexts and strategies that have fostered durable interracial working-class solidarity. The UPWA, which managed to survive the Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s relatively unscathed, represents an important link between the “civil rights unionism” of the 1930s and 1940s and the civil rights movement of the mid-1950s and 1960s.

Powers of Trade Union Activists Engaged in Self-Employment – Assessment of Polish Legislation

The objective of the foregoing article is an analysis of the rights which the Polish legislature granted to self-employed trade union activists after the extension of coalition rights to these persons. In this regard, the trade union law extended to self-employed persons working as sole traders protection, which until 2019 was reserved exclusively for employees. Pursuant to the amendment of July 5, 2018, self-employed trade union activists were granted – based on international standards – the right to non-discrimination on the basis of performing a trade union function, the right to paid leaves from work, both permanent and ad hoc in order to carry out ongoing activities resulting from the exercise of a trade union function, and the protection of the sustainability of civil law contracts which form the legal basis for the services provided. the exercise of a trade union function, and the protection of the sustainability of civil law contracts which form the legal basis for the services provided. The author positively assesses the very tendency to extend employee rights to self-employed persons acting as union activists. However, serious doubts are raised by the scope of privileges guaranteed to non-employee trade union activists and the lack of any criteria differentiating this protection. Following the amendment of the trade union law, the legislator practically equates the scope of rights of self-employed trade union activists with the situation of trade union activists with employee status. This is not the right direction. This regulation does not take into account the specificity of self-employed persons, who most often do not have such strong legal relationship with the employing entity as employees. The legislature does not sufficiently notice the distinctness resulting from civil law contracts, which form the basis for the provision of work by the selfemployed the separateness resulting from civil law contracts, which constitute the basis for the performance of work by the self-employed. According to the author, the scope of rights guaranteed de lege lata to self-employed union activists constitutes an excessive and unjustified interference with the fundamental principle of freedom of contract on the basis of civil law employment relations (Art. 3531 of the Civil Code). From the point of view of international standards, it would be enough to ensure the right of these persons to non-discrimination on the basis of performing a trade union function; the right to unpaid temporary leaves from work in order to perform current activities resulting from the performed trade union function; the right to high compensation in the event of termination of a civil law contract with a self-employed trade union activist in connection with the performance of his functions in trade union bodies and full jurisdiction of labour courts in cases arising from the application of trade union law provisions. The disadvantage of the regulation at issue is also that Polish collective labour law does not in any way differentiate the scope of the rights and privileges guaranteed to self-employed trade union activists, ensuring the same level of protection for all. In that area, it appears that the legislature de lege ferenda should differentiate the scope of that protection by referring to the criterion of economic dependence on the hiring entity for which the services are provided.