The directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union provides for the obligation to promote collective bargaining and requires Members States to adopt measures to increase its coverage to 80%. Poland is one of the countries with the lowest level of collective bargaining throughout the European Union. The article discusses the reasons of the crisis as well as analyzes legal solutions, the introduction of which could contribute to the revival of social dialogue in conditions of low union density and low activity of social partners.

The article presents the situation of company-level collective agreements in relation to collective bargaining in general. It focuses on normative and statistical aspects, presenting the numbers of concluded and binding agreements, as well as attempting to assess the approximate number of employees and other persons covered by collective agreements (including the situation in particular provinces). This is a starting point for the assessment of the potential and the actual role collective agreements play in shaping the employment conditions, especially when facing the complete collapse of multi-establishment collective agreements. The presented data is the result of a study conducted at Regional Labour Inspectorates and of analyses and reports conducted by the General Labour Inspectorate.

The article discusses legal and practical aspects of the functioning of multi-establishment collective agreements. The text is based on the research conducted in the register run by the Minister of Labour. The authors tend to present a broader perspective of multi-establishment collective bargaining and reflect on its future.