Established and emerging fields of workers’ struggles in the care sector: the case of Poland

Abstract

This article analyses the struggles of care sector workers in recent years in Poland, mapping the activities of trade unions and initiatives undertaken by non-unionised workers in care services. It considers the institutional setting and barriers specific to Poland and analyses the constraints on industrial action in the sector by looking at different cases: nurses and midwives, early education teachers, nursery teachers and carers of persons with disabilities. All those groups have in recent years organised militant actions. Using an institutional approach and Social Reproduction Theory, the article discusses how the social understanding of care work intersects with the institutional setting during industrial action and the consequences for the workers of this intersection. It introduces the typology of established and emerging fields of workers’ struggles and a concept of ‘bargaining power penalty’ to show that disputes in the care sector are a new form of industrial dispute, featuring, over and above the tripartite worker-employer-state constellation, the relationship between caregivers and care recipients (and their families) as well as the special position of caregivers in society. Care weakens bargaining power, while at the same time it inspires new agendas of struggles.