Publication date: June 24, 2025
Origin and meaning of the term
The name “yellow trade unions” itself may have at least two sources. According to one, it refers to the “yellow dog clauses”, which in the past referred to provisions of employment contracts prohibiting joining trade unions. Another possible etymology was the workers’ organizations operating in France at the beginning of the 20th century, which, in order to distinguish themselves from the communist “red” organizations, called themselves “yellow”.
There are two meanings of yellow trade unions. In the broad sense, these are all trade unions that are too focused on protecting the interests of the employer and not focused on securing the interests of employees. In the narrow sense, the term stands for trade unions established either by the employer himself or at his inspiration. Such unions are supposed to reduce the influence of employees on negotiations with the employer, their chances of success in collective disputes and prevent self-organization.
Perception of trade unions in Poland
Despite the rich history of trade unions in Poland and the role played in the country by NSZZ “Solidarność”, a small number of employees are members of trade unions, and Poland shares the European trends of decreasing participation in trade unions. According to the Central Statistical Office, in 2022 there were 11,656 trade unions in Poland, and people associated with trade unions constituted 4.7% of the adult population of Poland and 14.8% – employed on the basis of an employment contract[1]. According to CBOS data, 5.5% of Poles declare membership in trade unions, which constitutes 10.5% of employees[2]. These numbers do not seem small compared to other European countries (in France between 8 and 11% of employees are members of trade unions[3], while in Germany 17.4%[4]). However, the statistics of employees covered by collective labor agreements paint a completely different picture, in Poland at a much lower level than in Europe. In Poland, collective agreements cover 10 to 15% of employees, while in Germany this number is 55% (statistics for 2017-2019), and in France even 98-99%[5]. The low level of employees belonging to trade unions may be influenced by negative opinions about trade unions. In Poland, according to the cited CBOS research2, only 32% of respondents believe that “trade unions in Poland generally defend employee interests effectively” (with 37% “ineffectively” and 31% “hard to say”). The respondents assessed the trade unions operating in their workplaces even worse. Only one in four considered that “they are effective, the staff owes them a lot”, and as many as 63% believe that “they try, but they do not succeed much” or “the effects of their activities are not visible”. The reason for the low opinions about trade unions may be the opinion that they are not very effective, resulting from the excessive ties between trade union activists and the employer.
Impact on workers’ rights
Although trade unions do not enjoy a good reputation, they are designed as a tool for employees to influence the employer’s actions or working conditions. Their consent or agreement with them on a position is required in many cases, including establishing remuneration regulations (based on art. 772 § 4 of the Polish Labor Code[6]) or establishing work regulations (based on art. 1042§ 1 of the Polish Labor Code), although in the latter case it is possible for the employer to establish work regulations in the event of failure to agree on them by the parties within the deadline set by them. Trade unions also have a special role in the procedure for concluding collective labor agreements, both company and supra-company.
Article 30, section 6 of the Trade Union Act[7] states that in the event that the trade unions do not present the employer with a common position, the employer has the right to make a decision independently. A “front” organization associated with the employer may therefore block other trade unions and de facto exempt the employer from the obligation to take their positions into account, provided that it has the required numbers to be a representative trade union organization or there are no such organizations in the given workplace (more on representative organizations and how they are to be a means of combating yellow trade unions below).
Trade union registration procedure
The Polish system of trade union registration is based on the principle of pluralism. Establishing and registering a trade union is relatively simple. According to Article 12 of the Trade Union Act, establishing a trade union requires a resolution by 10 persons forming the trade union, who adopt the statute (which must contain elements required by law, including the name and seat of the union, the rules for acquiring and losing membership, and the rights and obligations of members) and elect the founding committee. In order for a trade union to obtain legal personality, registration in the National Court Register is required, carried out at the request of the founding committee within 30 days. The procedure is free of court fees.
In principle – in accordance with the ethos of solidarity – the ease of creating trade unions was to serve the implementation of the right to create independent and independent company organizations as well as their popularization, and thus strengthen their position within industrial relations. However, this also resulted in the creation of a large number of small and therefore susceptible to influence union organizations, which, due to their weaker negotiating position with the employer and organizational position within the enterprise, will not have the opportunity to effectively fight for employee rights. There is then a chance that they will transform into yellow trade unions.
Contradiction with the law
The establishment of yellow unions is contrary to international labor law. Convention No. 98 on the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining[8] in Article 2 requires the introduction of adequate protection against all acts of interference by one in the affairs of the other for employers’ and workers’ organizations, and in paragraph 2 considers such acts of interference to include in particular measures aimed at causing the establishment of workers’ organizations which are controlled by the employer or by an employers’ organization, or at supporting workers’ organizations financially or in any other way, in order to subject such organizations to the control of the employer or employers’ organization.
In American law, the activities of such trade unions have been banned by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.[9] It confirmed the right employees “to self-organize, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all such activities.” And it was considered unfair practice for the employer “to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial or other support to it”.
It is also worth citing the Supreme Court judgment with reference number I PK 234/14, in which the Supreme Court adopted the position that if only one representative organization operates at the employer, its position does not bind the employer in the event of a different position being expressed by another, even non-representative, trade union organization. There were developed opposing views and critical comments which were ultimately confirmed by the legislator in the amendment of July 5, 2018[10].
Changes in the law
In 2019, amendments to the Trade Union Act came into force[11], aimed at limiting the possibilities of operating yellow trade unions and expanding the number of employees who have the right to be members of trade unions (extending this right to persons employed under civil law contracts).
In order to limit the possibility of blocking the activities of all trade unions operating at a given employer and to limit the role of smaller trade unions (which, as indicated, are particularly vulnerable to becoming “yellow trade unions”), the institution of supra-establishment representative trade union organizations was introduced and they were granted special powers. According to Article 252 Section 1 of the Trade Union Act, an organization is considered representative:
1) when it is representative within the meaning of the Act on the Social Dialogue Council or
2) associating at least 15% of all persons performing paid work covered by the scope of the statute, but not less than 10,000 persons performing paid work, or
3) associating the largest number of persons performing gainful employment for whom a specific supra-enterprise collective labour agreement is to be concluded.
According to the amended Article 30, Section 6 of the Trade Union Act, in the absence of a common position of the trade unions operating at a given employer, the employer will be bound only by the opinion of representative organisations within the above meaning (and only those, each of which brings together at least 5% of the employees employed by the employer).
This allows for limiting situations in which the position of the representative trade union organization could be blocked by a non-representative yellow trade union and resolved the dispute on whether, in the event of only one representative organization operating at a given employer, its position is binding on the employer in the event of a difference of opinion between it and other non-representative trade union organizations. The representativeness threshold for company trade unions was also raised to 15%.
[1]Central Statistical Office Partners of social dialogue – employers’ organizations and trade unions in 2022 04.09.2023.
[2]CBOS Research Report No. 140/2021 Trade Unions in Poland (data for 2021).
[3] Prepared by the European Workers Participation Competence Centre (EWPCC) from: https://www.worker-participation.eu/national-industrial-relations/countries/france
[4]Schnabel, C. Unions and employers’ associations in Germany: a survey of their membership, density and bargaining coverage. J Labor Market Res 59, 7 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-025-00393-2
[5]Collective labor agreements in Poland and Europe Prepared by: Jacek Rybick Publisher: Gdańsk Region NSZZ “Solidarność”. https://solidarnosc.gda.pl/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/dialog-luty-2024-z-okladka.pdf
[6]Journal of Laws 1974 No. 24 item 141, as amended.
[7]Journal of Laws 1991 No. 55 item 234, as amended.
[8]Journal of Laws of 1958, No. 29, item 126
[9]Text available at: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/national-labor-relations-act
[10]Journal of Laws 2018 item 1608
[11]ibidem