Date
24 January 2022

Tag

Active

Country
Poland Poland
Geographical scope
National
Type
  • Type

    Awareness raising, campaigns, information provision

    Voluntary
  • Type

    Organising and representing workers

    Voluntary
View Initiative

Description

WBREW is the first national trade union for self-employed in Poland. It was established in September 2021 after new legislation was passed, which allowed workers to associate on grounds other than an employment contract (following a ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal of 2 June 2015, file K 1/13).  

The union emerged as a response to overly bureaucratic requirements for self-employed, precarious working conditions, low pensions, high income taxes as well as cases of compulsory self-employment. It strives to represent the interests of self-employed workers and unites several professional groups of the self-employed including nurses, security guards, IT specialists, journalists, shoemakers, builders, tattooists, couriers, fitness trainers, translators and taxi drivers. The union lobbies for legal as well as economic changes by raising awareness, campaigning, member support and collecting data. It expects to reach 100 000 members by mid-2022.  


Additional metadata

Keywords
representation, industrial relations, social dialogue, working conditions
Actors
Employee organisation
Sector
No specific sector focus

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2022), WBREW Polish Trade Union for Self-Employed (Initiative), Record number 2264, Platform Economy Database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/platformeconomydb/wbrew-polish-trade-union-for-selfemployed-106179.