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This article looks at the evolution of industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe after the so-called 'eastern enlargement' between 2004 and 2013. The main claim is that 20 years after EU accession the 'European dream' (embodied in the European Social Model) has not been fulfilled in the area of industrial relations. Furthermore, the main frame of reference (thus the goal to be reached) has become increasingly distorted over the years. The article investigates the dynamics of industrial relations in the 'new' Member States of Central and Eastern Europe in order to show that what had been expected to become a transition – that is, a move from one defined point to another – eventually turned into a transformation without convergence on a clear model and characterised by widespread weakness and fragmentation of industrial relations.

Over the past three decades, Poland's economy has experienced a deep structural change in terms of ownership: from almost entirely state-owned to predominantly private, and from relatively consolidated to largely fragmented. The shift in the dominant form of ownership has been arguably the key factor behind the profound reconfiguration of work and employment relations, which has become fragmented and, to a large degree, subject to the voluntarist behaviour of employers. The article follows the changes in the social perceptions of the labour market in the context of ownership structure and the evolution of the economic mentality of Poles, using empirical data collected in the course of longitudinal research conducted at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH).

The paper concentrates on the issues of interest representation for non-standard employees. The empirical findings from the European Union (EU) level are used as a frame of reference for analysis of the situation in Poland. Nonstandard employment is an ambiguous notion, so is, naturally, the concept of non-standard workers. In Poland nonstandard employment has been growing, mostly in a form of 'junk jobs'. Trade unions, and other institutional forms of collective interest representation, struggle to endorse problems faced by non-standard employees, with a moderate degree of success.

PurposeIn the context of debates on the role of social partners in shaping anti-crisis policies, the article explores the developments of social dialogue in Poland following the outbreak of the pandemic. The central research question is whether the crisis has helped to revitalise social dialogue or has it further revealed its weaknesses that were apparent before it.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the combination of literature review and the analysis of primary data derived from 22 expert interviews with the representatives of trade unions, employers and ministries collected in 2020–2021 in four essential industries (education, health care, social care and logistics).FindingsThe analysis suggests that the pandemic led to reinforcement of "illusory corporatism" in Poland, deepened mistrust among social partners and triggered a shift to informal channels of influencing policymaking. The weakness of the social partners and the strong position of the right-wing populist government meant that fears of recession and a health crisis were insufficient to develop "crisis" corporatism. While business interests were represented better than labour in policymaking, limited labour-friendly outcomes have been achieved as a result of workers' mobilisation and unilateral decisions of the government rather than tripartite social dialogue.Originality/valueBased on original empirical research, the article contributes to the discussion on the impact of the crisis on social dialogue under patchwork capitalism. It points to the role of strong governments and informality in circumventing tripartite structures and the importance of essential workers' mobilisation in response to the lack of social dialogue.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the interrelations between the evolution of industrial relations (IR) and IR research in Poland in the historical context. Two questions are put forward: How was the evolution of the IR system in Poland influenced by the re-constitution of a particular model of the capitalism and the strategies and struggle of IR actors? How were the ways of approaching and theorizing IR influenced by the aforementioned evolution?


Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws upon academic literature, secondary data on actors and processes of IR as well as four expert interviews with the representatives of the first generation of IR scholars in Poland.


Findings
The paper suggests that the development of the IR system and the related scholarship can be divided into three phases: the pre-1989 period characterised by the lack of autonomous interests representation and rather limited IR research; the early development of the post-1989 IR system marked by the debates on the integrative role of IR as peacekeeping mechanism in the period of deep economic and political changes (1989-2004); the post-EU accession consolidation of the IR system characterised by the weakness of the IR actors vis-à-vis the state and increasing neo-etatist tendencies.


Originality/value
This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the relationships between the emergent models of Eastern European capitalism and the evolution of IR systems. It critically analyses the state of the discussion on the IR field Poland emphasising the relevance of political-economic factors as well as the ideology of "social peace" for both the evolution of the IR system in the country and the state of the IR debate.

This article investigates the relationship between job quality features of the primary job and the propensity to engage in multiple paid activities. The analysis covers workers from 28 European countries using data from the EWCS (European Working Conditions Survey) 2010-2015. The results show that workers experiencing economic and job insecurity in their primary job are more likely to engage in additional paid employment. Multiple jobholders (MJHs) report higher work pressure and more unsocial hours in their main jobs, but also more control over and flexibility in working hours, more autonomy and a wider scope for exercising skills, the latter largely explained by compositional factors. Moreover, the evidence shows that experiences of work diverge among multiple jobholders, and they can be classified into six clusters based on the quality of their primary job. This points to a variety of motivations and factors that encourage multiple jobholding. Finally, we find a considerable cross-country variation in job quality among multiple jobholders, with worse outcomes in more segmented labour markets with a higher proportion of non-standard employment.

This article deals with the dilemmas faced by trade unions from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the context of their relations with western European (EU-15) unions and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The issue of cross-border solidarity is re-examined, taking into account its historical meanings as well as current developments under the pressures of globalisation and EU integration. The article analyses key factors affecting East–West trade union relations – different views within the ETUC, discontinuities in European social dialogue, challenges faced by European works councils and the uncertain future of transnational company agreements. Major dilemmas CEE unions cope with vis-à-vis their western counterparts are outlined. The question of how to achieve a common interest platform for trade unions from Central and Eastern Europe and from western Europe is raised, followed by a suggestion that 'downward convergence' in industrial relations is bringing the two regions closer.

Chapter focuses on various atypical forms of employment – fixed-term, TAW, undeclared work as well as so called 'very atypical forms of employment' – and their developments in different EU Member States as well as policy debate around the atypical forms of employment. In recent years, the share of employees working under atypical forms of employment in EU Member States either increased or remained unchanged. Events in 2015 reflect the eclectic nature of approaches to this matter, with measures ranging from those that encourage flexibility (Latvia and Norway) to those that seek to combat abuse of atypical contracts (Sweden).

Chapter focuses on various atypical forms of employment – fixed-term, TAW, undeclared work as well as so called 'very atypical forms of employment' – and their developments in different EU Member States as well as policy debate around the atypical forms of employment. In recent years, the share of employees working under atypical forms of employment in EU Member States either increased or remained unchanged. Events in 2015 reflect the eclectic nature of approaches to this matter, with measures ranging from those that encourage flexibility (Latvia and Norway) to those that seek to combat abuse of atypical contracts (Sweden).

Chapter focuses on various atypical forms of employment – fixed-term, TAW, undeclared work as well as so called 'very atypical forms of employment' – and their developments in different EU Member States as well as policy debate around the atypical forms of employment. In recent years, the share of employees working under atypical forms of employment in EU Member States either increased or remained unchanged. Events in 2015 reflect the eclectic nature of approaches to this matter, with measures ranging from those that encourage flexibility (Latvia and Norway) to those that seek to combat abuse of atypical contracts (Sweden).

Chapter focuses on various atypical forms of employment – fixed-term, TAW, undeclared work as well as so called 'very atypical forms of employment' – and their developments in different EU Member States as well as policy debate around the atypical forms of employment. In recent years, the share of employees working under atypical forms of employment in EU Member States either increased or remained unchanged. Events in 2015 reflect the eclectic nature of approaches to this matter, with measures ranging from those that encourage flexibility (Latvia and Norway) to those that seek to combat abuse of atypical contracts (Sweden).

The article looks at the evolution and institutional characteristics of Polish trade unions after 1989 in a pre-1989 historical context. It highlights the role of path-dependency in assessing labour's capacity to adapt to the new economic, political and social environment which emerged following the radical institutional change. Based on field work conducted in 2009 and 2010, the paper focuses on the dynamics in organisational structure of the three nation-wide trade union organisations (Solidarity, OPZZ and FZZ), and adds a concise description of national industrial relations, emphasizing their hybrid and foggy nature.

Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disabled employees that have been tailored to their specific situation within a workplace. This article, however, argues that there is potential for collective employment relations to motivate and enable social partners to develop a role in implementing reasonable accommodations and supporting older and disabled employees in the labour market. Focusing on industrial relations and work accommodation systems in Estonia, Poland and Hungary, the potential role that social partners could play in creating more inclusive workplaces is explored. This is done by reference to the findings from an action research project that brought together social partners to discuss ways in which practices in providing work accommodations could help better to integrate underutilised sources of labour in these three countries. The industrial relations regimes in the three countries have potentially enabling characteristics that could facilitate work accommodations. Current knowledge of the work accommodation process and the integration of this issue into the collective employment relations agenda, however, needs further improvement.