The European Forum for New Ideas is a conference devoted to global trends, new ideas and the future of Europe. Each year it brings together representatives of business, science, culture and Polish and European administration. This year's edition took place in Sopot on 16-18 October.

We need to strengthen social dialogue

Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy, participated on Thursday 17 October in a panel titled ‘How to rebuild and stimulate social dialogue as a modern form of public governance’.

I am honoured to represent here not only the Ministry, not only the governmental side, but also to act as the outgoing Chairperson of the Social Dialogue Council in just a moment's time,' said the Head of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy at the outset.

The debate was also attended by: Marcin Stanecki (Chief Labour Inspector, member of the Social Dialogue Council), Jerzy Hausner (Professor of Economic Sciences, Chairman of the Programme Council of the Open Eyes Economy Summit & Foundation of Economy and Public Administration), Piotr Ostrowski (President of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions, Vice-Chairman of the Social Dialogue Council) Maciej Witucki (President of the Lewiatan Confederation, Vice-Chairman of the Social Dialogue Council), Artur Mazurkiewicz (President, Lower Silesian Employers).

The essence of dialogue is understanding

Speaking about the experience of chairing the Council in recent months, the Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk emphasised that many meetings were difficult - both for the government side and for the social partners.

These included the situation at PKP Cargo or the Polish Post Office.

The possibility to hold, even several times, debates on such difficult subjects shows what, in my opinion, is crucial in this dialogue: the understanding that the goal of social dialogue is not and does not have to be a 100% agreement. It can happen, and it is great if it does. However, the fundamental goal of dialogue is understanding; mutual understanding of each other's attitudes, positions, constraints and challenges, even if, mutually or in a tripartite arrangement, these positions are not always consistent,' the head of the labour ministry pointed out.

As the Minister pointed out, for a genuine dialogue to take place, there must be equal partners sitting at the table.

We have been discussing legislative changes for a long time, therefore at the last meeting of the Social Dialogue Council, under my chairmanship, I will present the assumptions of the draft act on the Social Dialogue Council, outlining the issue of representativeness. (...) The government is obliged to enable and provide grounds for social dialogue and to restore this dialogue not in a façade, but in a real form, and for this we need tools adequate to today's challenges - the Minister pointed out.